How to Live and How to Die
by princessofilium
Summary: To live life to the fullest, like you'll die the next day, is an accomplishment few manage to achieve, and to give your life for those you love - the ultimate sacrifice - is something that takes incredible courage. If something could be said for Lily Evans and James Potter, it was that they were very good at living, but they were also very good at dying.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hello! Welcome to my newest story which, I am really hoping, will be a multi-chap that goes right up to Lily and James' death. Anyway, sit back and enjoy! I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything canon. As I'm sure you're aware, I am not JK Rowling, although I have met her ;)**

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**Prologue**

**1st September 1971**

* * *

It was absolute bedlam. Steam clouded her vision as a small girl with fiery, red hair attempted to push her way through the crowd of odd looking children. Most wore ordinary clothing but in their hands were wooden sticks, and frogs and owls in cages sat on large, brown trunks. The adults wore multicolored robes that fell to the floor and the steam came from a large, red, steam train. _The Hogwarts Express._ The girl's eyes widened at the sight in front of her. The people, the place, the whole experience was one she had to get used to. She had only experienced this type of people _en masse_ once before but now she would have it every day for the rest of her life. The girl was a witch.

Just ahead of her, she could see the black head of hair she'd been searching for. The witch continued to bustle through the crowd but just before she could reach her destination, another boy blocked her path. Looking at him, she could tell he was a similar age to her, though he was taller and his jet-black hair was messed in every which way. Dark rimmed glasses framed his hazel eyes that stared straight into her emerald green ones as he held out a hand.

"You seem a little distressed. Anything I can help with?" The boy smiled, a sort of lopsided smirk that said 'I'm up to something'. It irritated her, but the witch could not put her finger on why.

"No, thank you. I'm just looking for a friend," Lily Evans replied with a huff before she, frustrated, pushed past eleven-year-old James Potter. In that moment, he knew the redheaded girl was someone to keep an eye on.

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**A/N: The first chapter will be on it's way soon. I hope this snippet has whet your appetite.**


	2. Chapter 1: Beginnings and Ends

**Disclaimer: All things canon are owned by the one and only, JK Rowling, and not me... sadly.**

* * *

**Chapter One****  
Beginnings and Ends**

* * *

Lily Evans rushed, books in hand, out of the Potions classroom and back to the Gryffindor sixth year girls' dormitory. She had been tutoring a fourth year after Slughorn had asked her to give him a hand with his Swelling Solution, but now it was nearly time for the end of year feast and she still had not packed. The Hogwarts Express left Hogsmeade at eleven o'clock sharp the following morning and it was most unusual for Lily to be so disorganised.

The last week had been a stressful one; having had exams the week prior, most of the year groups had been getting their results and the teachers certainly had not held back on giving normal homework, as well as work to do over the summer. Admittedly, Lily had completed the majority of her summer work already, but that left her trunk unpacked and her clothes and books scattered around the dormitory she shared with four other girls.

When the redhead reached her dorm, she checked her watch, noting she had exactly one hour to pack, shower and put on a new set of robes. Drawing her wand from her pocket, Lily set about charming her books into the bottom of her trunk, praying to Merlin they would all fit. Her trunk already had undetectable extension and weightless charms on it and she was unsure how much more space her magical power would allow her. Once she could see everything was running smoothly, Lily grabbed her toiletries and jumped into one of the showers in the adjoining bathroom.

As the hot water poured over her skin, her mind wandered to life beyond Hogwarts. She only had one more year at the magical school, meaning one more year under the protection of Albus Dumbledore. The world beyond the castle boundaries was a dangerous one, particularly for a girl of her blood status and although she had tried to keep it from them as much as possible, Lily knew her parents had realised the current tumult in which the wizarding world lay. It would not be easy to hide the _Daily Prophet_ from them over the summer but she could not let them pull her out of Hogwarts. Nothing good could possibly come from that.

Lily had not realised how much time had passed until she heard commotion in the dorm and Marlene came barrelling into the bathroom calling her name.

"Lils, I thought you said you were going to pack your stuff before the feast. We have fifteen minutes before it starts."

"What?!" Lily squealed, grabbing her towel and nearly slipping over as she rushed out of the shower. "Let me just get dressed, chuck me my robes."

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty that was Marlene McKinnon had been one of Lily's closest friends from her first year at Hogwarts. While the two girls were very different, both in appearance and personality, they got on extremely well and had always been the closest out of the five Gryffindor girls in their year. Their friendship, while it had always been there, grew and blossomed tenfold after the incident in fifth year - the one no one spoke about unless they wished to be hexed into the next century. Over time Marlene's confidence began to bring Lily out of her shell and the redhead had never been more grateful to have friends who had her back, even if she had been distant in years before.

Lily dressed quickly and hurriedly charmed the clothes she knew she would not need again to fold themselves and be placed in her trunk.

"See, I've never really got the hang of household charms. I don't understand how you can just flick your wrist and it comes so easily." Marlene's voice pierced Lily's train of thought as she wondered if the clothes would be okay by themselves if she left them.

"I'll teach you someday, Marls, but we should get moving, I don't want to be late."

The blonde nodded and followed her friend as Lily left the dorm at high speed, knowing that getting to the Great Hall would take five minutes at the very least if she walked at quickly. All she knew is that Dumbledore's speech would be very important this year and there was no way she was going to miss it.

* * *

Tuned out from the voice enveloping the Great Hall, James Potter glanced down the Gryffindor table to where Lily sat. It was not that he was not interested in what the old wizard had to say, James had just heard it before - from his mother, his father, his father's co-workers, everyone. He was tired of it, 'there's a war coming', 'danger everywhere', 'stick together', 'come together as a school', 'have each other's backs', blah, blah, blah. James understood. The message was through. He would fight for what was right, he would do what he could, but he did not need the reminder that his childhood was over every second of every day. As much as he felt the pull to fight, he also wanted to live his life while he still could.

James could tell Lily was concentrating very hard on what Dumbledore was saying because every so often her nose would twitch for just a millisecond. If you blinked, you'd miss it, but James never missed it. For years, he had taken an interest in the redheaded witch, and knew every trait and habit she had. He was completely in love and he knew it, but he also knew that it would never happen. James Potter was resigned to his fate – a life without Lily Evans. If he lived through the war, that is.

Not for the first time, Lily could feel two sets of eyes on her. It was not some kind of magical trick that made her aware when people were staring, just a prickling on the back of her neck. Coming straight out of the important speech, Lily snapped her head around to the Slytherin table. For a moment she glared into the black eyes of Severus Snape, daring him to try and keep staring, before pulling herself back to Dumbledore's words. She felt the prickling on the back of her neck lift as Snape looked away. James was still watching her, that she knew, but she cared slightly less.

Potter was irritating, but ultimately harmless. In earlier years, he had made a public show of his affections for her, which was both humiliating and annoying, but now he just stayed silent. If it were not for the prickling at the back of her neck, she would not have even known he still held a torch for her. James had moved on, been with other girls, and caused mischief with his friends. But still he watched Lily - just as he had from the first moment they met, following her fiery hair through the masses on the crowded Platform 9 and ¾.

* * *

As The Hogwarts Express rolled out of Hogsmeade station right on time, Snape slipped through the carriages to the one his trunk resided in. A first year had brought it aboard along with those belonging to his housemates who would also be waiting in the carriage. As he slunk down the train, he stopped in his tracks as he heard a familiar laugh. Severus bit his lip, knowing Lily Evans would never laugh for him again. He tried not to, but his head turned to the source of the sound and his eyes locked with hers. The laughter died in her throat and her face turned stony, an expression that was quickly mimicked by those in her company – some girls he did not know the names of and four boys he most certainly knew the names of.

They were crammed into the compartment like sardines. It seemed ridiculous to Snape as to why eight witches and wizards would force themselves into such close quarters that would lead to some sitting on others' laps when there were plenty of carriages available. This could have, of course, stemmed from the jealousy of anyone being so close to each other, especially Lily Evans.

"Sod off, Snivelly." A voice permeated Severus' train of thought before he could move on from the carriage or remove his eyes from Lily's. He turned and stormed off without another word to the carriage where his housemates were waiting.

Once he had gone, Lily turned to the owner of the voice, "Thank you, Sirius," she said in a small voice. The things this group of friends had done for her since fifth year was remarkable. A lot of the time she found the Marauders annoying and troublesome, but the guys were loyal and they had kind hearts. Occasionally, they could even be amusing. Lily, however, only really hung out with them as a big group of Gryffindors. Had the numbers been smaller, it would have become more awkward being in such close company with James Potter so she tended to avoid him when possible. He pushed her buttons and, most of the time, on purpose, but in large groups, it could be laughed off or ignored.

The group in the compartment was smaller than usual. All four of the Gryffindor sixth year boys were present, but the girls were missing a dorm mate. Deandra Wright, the most level-headed of the five girls who shared a dorm, was spending the train ride back to London with her long-term boyfriend, Edgar Bones. While the pair of them completed the regular group, the couple liked to spend their train journeys together. When Lily thought about it, she found it romantic, almost disgustingly so, even though they were not a disgustingly romantic couple. They were just perfect for each other in every way. It warmed her heart to think that people could still find, and keep, love in the present climate.

Dee and Edgar were not the only couple, though. Alice Fawcett sat beside Lily, practically buzzing in her seat as The Hogwarts Express took her closer and closer to Frank Longbottom. Frank had left Hogwarts the summer before and had spent the year on the Auror Training Program, a dream he and Alice shared. He had promised to be waiting at King's Cross when the train pulled in and having communicated only by letter all year, the petite brunette could not wait to feel him wrap his arms around her.

Sometimes thinking about her friends' relationships brought a pang of jealousy to Lily's heart. The idea of having someone there for you always, who loved you unconditionally, sounded nice but there was one huge downside – love made you vulnerable and Lily Evans did not do vulnerability, not anymore.

"Lily. _Lily_. _**LILY**_!" A shout and a hand waving in front of her face drew the girl from her inner thoughts. "Do you want us to deal you in?" The question came from the small, rat-faced, slightly pudgy boy sat opposite her with a pack of exploding snap cards in his hands. Peter Pettigrew was pretty useless when it came to just about everything, but he had a good heart and good intentions.

Out of the four sixth year Gryffindor boys who were self-dubbed, 'The Marauders', Lily was more accepting of the presence of some more than others. For example, she may actively seek out the company of Remus Lupin, a tall, sandy-haired, hard-working boy who tended to be the voice of reason behind the Marauders' pranks and mischief. However, it would be a rare day if you found Lily Evans and Sirius Black purposefully hanging out. Sirius, while amusing and generally kind, had absolutely nothing in common with Lily. She enjoyed reading and studying, while he would rather shove his head in a vat of Malevolent Mixture for a week. He played quidditch and caused trouble, while she refused to go near a broomstick and was a stickler for rules. The pair got along, but they would not actively choose each other's company.

Lily nodded to Peter who dealt her in and the compartment soon became wracked with screams, shouts, and explosions as the game got into full swing. Even James joined in, sat on the opposite side of the compartment from Lily and trying his best not to look at her as she laughed at the game. It was far easier to push her from his mind when she was not right in front of him.

* * *

Stepping off the bright red steam train and onto the solid ground of London town again was always like a wake up call for Lily. It meant re-entering the muggle world, the _real_ world. It meant having to deal with her family. Namely Petunia.

As the train began to show the tell-tale signs of approaching London (suburbia followed by masses of terraced-house-towns and high-rise buildings in the distance), Lily gave Marlene, Alice and Mary hugs and waved goodbyes to the Marauders and excused herself before heading down to a quieter end of the train.

The Christmas and summer holidays were the only times in the year the young witch got to spend with her parents, but they came with a cost - leaving her friends behind. While Rose and Andrew Evans would not have minded in the slightest to have Lily's school friends around, she did not wish to burden her parents. Occasionally, Marley would make an appearance but too much reference to Lily's magical abilities in front of Petunia sparked arguments that lasted for weeks and, in Lily's opinion, her parents did not need any reminder of the strain magic had put on the family. Friends were a small sacrifice.

Therefore, as the Hogwarts Express approached London, Lily always said goodbye to her friends and went to sit alone and get used to being without them and being 'normal' again before she had to force her presence on her sister. Most would want to spend every second possible with their friends but Lily did not do goodbyes, so a simple hug and walking away was preferable to her that the big, platform-group-hugs-and-kisses-and-see-you-soon-pr omise-to-write fandango.

Getting off the train, Lily made sure her trunk, magically bottomless, weightless and the size of a pencil case, was still in the pocket of her jacket and her owl, Athena, would be waiting for her when she got back home so she did not need to worry about her. She pushed her way through the masses of parents and family welcoming home their children from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The redhead did not even bother looking around for her family; she knew they had not made the journey to central London – there was no point now that Lily could apparate home quicker than they could start up the ignition on their car.

In no time Lily had reached the designated apparition point and thought of home. _Destination, deliberation, determination_, the witch thought, but just before she felt the familiar squeeze that meant she was in transit, her eyes locked again with the black pools of sorrow that belonged to Snape. Her determination and deliberation faltered and so did her destination as she 'popped' from King's Cross and arrived at her new location. Instead of the property line of her family's house in Cokeworth that marked the edge of the protective enchantments she had put on the area when she returned briefly for that purpose at Easter, Lily found herself in a play park.

The redhead sighed and sat on the grassy mound she had arrived at which overlooked the park. By locking eyes with her ex-best friend moments before apparating, her thoughts were diverted from the solid ground of home to memories of her childhood in this particular park of Cokeworth with the boy who grew into a man who betrayed her. A year ago, Lily promised herself she would put the incident behind her and, while her sixth year had been awkward trying to escape Severus, her housemates had stepped up to the mark and helped her immeasurably. A year on and she was still coping with the pain the betrayal had brought her, but Lily did not regret walking away from her friendship with Snape for a second.

With that conclusion, the witch stood up, brushed any dirt off of the back of her jeans, and started towards home which lay just a five minute walk from the park. This time Lily did not feel the eyes that watched her go from behind a tree that the pair once lay beneath on a summer day similar to that particular one. She did not see Severus Snape's shoulders droop, defeated, as he turned and headed back to Spinner's End.

* * *

From the compartment in which they had spent the whole of the train journey from Hogsmeade to King's Cross, James Potter and Sirius Black exited with fellow Marauders, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew in tow. The latter two would soon depart and go their separate ways to their families and homes, but James and Sirius were family. They may as well have been brothers.

Since summer of fifth year when Sirius ran away from his purity-mania family, the boys had lived under the same roof at Potter Manor, but their brotherhood stemmed from years before that. Their meeting on the Hogwarts Express back in first year had brought about an unbreakable bond, which grew and grew over the years, making them inseparable.

Remus and Peter followed soon after and the two became a four and that four became the Marauders. Learning Remus was a werewolf early on and making it their ambition to help him, the four became closer than ever, but everyone knew that the closest bond was between James and Sirius. Fifth year was a pivotal point for most of wizarding community as the year of O.W.L.s, but Lily was not the only person who had a life-altering encounter with Severus Snape that year.

Having learnt to become animagi to help old Moony with his monthly excursions, and wishing to teach Snivelly a lesson, Sirius had told him the trick to get past the Whomping Willow. James having to save his sworn enemy from almost certain death at the hands, or claws, of one of his best friends was not something he had seen coming in Divination.

The weeks that followed where James refused to speak to Sirius were the oddest in Hogwarts history. The two inextricable Marauders, the bonded brothers, were broken and … extricable. The months after the incident saw the gradual build up of the friendship once more, as not a lot could keep the pair apart for long, but the trust would take longer.

It seemed now, at the beginning of summer in 1977, James may be able to trust in his brother completely again. He hoped he could and these next few months would need to be used to insure that. Hard times were coming and neither boy would know where they would be without the complete trust of the other.

* * *

Lily pushed open the front door of her family's semi-detached house, identical to that of every other house in the street, that lay in the outskirts of Cokeworth, a town not far from Camberley in Surrey. It was plain and boring but it was where she had grown up and where her parents were, so it was still home for her.

As soon as she had made it inside, a voice called for her as though she had never left, "Lily, dear, we're just in the living room, you couldn't bring the tray through, could you? It just on the side in the kitchen." Smiling lightly at her mother's version of 'welcome home, darling it's lovely to see you', Lily did as she was asked before she headed through to see her parents and, no doubt her sister.

Entering the room, Rose Evans, a small woman with strawberry blonde hair, streaked with grey, stood from the chair in which she had been sitting. She kissed her daughter on the cheek before taking her seat again and the tray, loaded with a pot of tea, three cups and some biscuits, and placing it on the table placed between her and her eldest daughter. Lily sat on the opposite side of the sofa from where Petunia was sitting and took the cup of tea offered to her by her mother and sat quietly while the women continued their conversation.

It was not that Rose preferred her elder daughter at all; more that she had come to make a compromise. In the earlier months following Lily's eleventh birthday, the Evans girls' feud had put such a strain on their mother that she had been taken ill and diagnosed with both physical and mental fatigue, leaving her bed ridden for a month. Even in the years following, the arguments would leave Rose drained and stressed and she would take to her bed. Petunia was stubborn and would never back down from a fight but Lily could see what the sisters' troubles were doing to their mother and so now a days she chose to ignore her elder sibling. Rose, like Lily, took a higher stance and chose not to get between the girls and avoided having them in close company whenever possible.

That left moments like this, when the girls were forced together and Lily went ignored even when she had just arrived home to see her family for the first time in six months. She understood why, and did not want to provoke the situation but that does not mean it did not hurt.

Finishing her cup of tea and gushing about her boyfriend (who she never stopped going on about), Petunia stood and kissed her mother, saying Vernon was waiting for her and not to wait up, she'd be back late. Normally, Rose would have invited Vernon for supper, but on Lily's first night home, she thought it would not be prudent. Petunia completely ignored her younger sister's existence and left the house, waved off by her mother.

"Nice to see you too, Tuney," Lily muttered under her breath with a roll of her eyes, before Rose re-entered the room. As she came in, the woman took her daughter in her arms for a hug.

"I'm sorry about that, darling. Petunia came all the way from London for tea and a chat and I couldn't just turn her away," Rose apologised, giving Lily another kiss before letting her go and picking up the tray to take back to the kitchen. The young witch followed her muggle mother, helping to tidy up as soon as the tray was placed down again.

"Athena arrived just before Petunia, I managed to get her in your room. Also, your father apologises for not being here. He finished for the summer yesterday and has a late staff meeting but promised he'd be home for supper. Would you like to help me cook? I'm making apple pie for dessert." A smile spread across Lily's face as her mother mentioned her favourite pudding. "I know how much you love it," Rose added with a smile almost identical to her youngest daughter's.

"Thanks, Mum," the girl said simply, kissing Rose's cheek as she passed to grab two aprons and throw one to her mother.

As the women cooked and baked, they caught up on all that had happened in the last few months, both in the muggle world and at Hogwarts. By the time Andrew Evans arrived home, the kitchen was spotless, the food was on the table and his girls were smiling.

* * *

The boys strolled out of King's Cross and began walking down a muggle street. They had no sense of where they were going and they didn't particularly care, they knew they would end up where they needed to be without even trying. Sure enough, not long after setting out, Sirius pushed open the door of the Leaky Cauldron.

Tom welcomed the boys with bows and two glasses of firewhiskey on the house before they had even crossed from the entrance to the bar. Being the son of the Head of the Auror Office often came in handy, especially in places like the Leaky Cauldron, but that did not mean is was devoid of downsides.

James rarely saw his father, Thomas, who was so engrossed in his work that he barely had time for his son. The two weeks at the end of summer when he would take leave from work and refused to be disturbed when he took his wife, Andrea, James and two of his friends to their little cottage in the village of Godric's Hollow, situated on the Somerset Levels, was the only father-son bonding time James had ever experienced.

Andrea Potter, James' mother would be awaiting Sirius and James' return back at Potter Manor, but tradition called for an end of year drink or five at the 'Cauldron before heading back. The boys settled themselves in their regular booth in the corner of the pub and began to discuss summer plans.

"Mate, I'm only at home this weekend and then I'm going to see Uncle A. He didn't sound so good in his last letter and I want to check on him before we get knee deep in summer pranks and whatever else this glorious season will bring." A smirk played across Sirius' lips as memories of prior summers passed through his mind. Before adding, "That okay with you?"

"I'm sure I can find something to do without you, Padfoot. Besides, I might actually be able to go to the beach without you scaring off all the birds within the first five minutes of being there!" James grinned, taking a swig of his drink and placing the empty goblet back on the table with a clunk.

Another round came and went before the topic of conversation fell on Godric's Hollow. The previous summer had been the first year since they had met when James had opted to take both Peter and Remus as opposed to Sirius and choosing between the other two. The Marauder who could not stay on that particular year would always pop in frequently during the two weeks, but Sirius had more or less been out in the cold the year prior and, while his relationship with James was mended, it was not perfect.

Though it was not obvious in his face, there was concern in Sirius' eyes that he would not be invited again this year. James took a sip of his third firewhiskey before bursting into laughter. "Pads, don't look so worried! Of course you're coming to the Hollow!"

Sirius relaxed and finished his own third round, a laugh escaping his own lips. "Alright, Prongs, alright. And that takes us right up to seventh year and whether or not you're going to keep trying for little old Lils…" he added, quickly diverting the subject so as to not dwell on past mistakes.

Prongs sighed and closed his eyes, finishing his drink and relishing the burning feeling as it slid down his throat. "It'll never happen, mate. She will never fall for me and I think I've come to accept that." James paused and nodded to Tom who brought over another round. "Moving on," he said as he raised his goblet in a 'cheers' and downed the liquid once more.

"I think its time to get home to Mum and Tippy, don't you, Padfoot?" James smirked his trademark lopsided smirk as he stood. Most would have felt at least slightly woozy by the amount of alcohol the boys had consumed, but as Marauders – magical mischief makers extraordinaire – they had become hardened drinkers by their fifth year and a four shots of firewhiskey did little to them now a days.

"I agree, dear old Mumsie will certainly be missing us," Sirius' smirk matched James' in almost every way as they headed out of the pub, stopping only for James to tell Tom to put the drinks on his father's tab.

* * *

The moment Lily heard the tell tale click of the front door opening, she rushed from the kitchen, smile on her face, and jumped into Andrew Evans' arms. Dropping his briefcase and essays galore, he received her with open arms and a matching smile. At seventeen year old, Lily was still very much a 'Daddy's Girl' but she could not care less. Her and her father had a connection, bonded by words and stories as well as hearts and blood.

As a lecturer in English Literature at the nearby University of Surrey, his youngest daughter quickly picked up his interest in classical literature. It all began with a gorgeous fairy tale book given to her at her Christening, and it only went downhill from there. Lily would steal books from her father's shelf in his study on a daily basis; _Little Women_, _Oliver Twist_, _Great Expectations_ and then, just before she left for Hogwarts, she stumbled upon _Jane Eyre_ and fell in love.

For two whole days, eleven-year-old Lily Evans did nothing but read the novel, cover-to-cover, stopping only to eat and sleep when her father told her that, as proud as he was of her love to read, she was being foolish.

Six years on and Lily still had her father's old and now very battered copy of _Jane Eyre_. Many a time her friends have suggested magically fixing the novel or even buying a new one but she just could not bring herself to do it. It was the novel that helped her get through a childhood without her sister's friendship and her first year at Hogwarts. It was the novel she went to on autumn days under a tree, winter days by the fire, times when she needed comforting or times when she just wished to read. It was the novel that made her fall in love with love.

After the incident of fifth year, Lily even tried to put the book away and leave it behind her. The idea that love was vulnerability caused a detachment from the book in her head, but it did not last long. She could not live without it. Her stolen moments with Jane and Rochester were the only time she let her heart open to love.

Kissing her on the cheek and taking her hand, Andrew took Lily back into the kitchen to see his wife, leaving his briefcase and essays on the floor of the hallway – he could pick them up later, he just wanted to be with his family. The three Evans' sat down at the kitchen table to the meal that the girls had made – toad in the hole with mash and beans.

"This looks wonderful, my dear," Andrew smiled, happy to be home as he dug in to his sausages. Andrew Evans, though often out of the home for long hours, loved his family dearly. He and Rose had met in University and never looked back since, still deeply in love nearly twenty-five years on.

He loved both his daughters immensely and equally, even though he had more in common with Lily. Petunia had been a more difficult child but it was far easier when the girls were friends, as soon as they split, everything became hard. Andrew resolved to stay out of it, unlike his wife who constantly wished them to sort things out and became ill with stress. He trusted Lily to take the higher ground and she did. His youngest daughter, the apple of his eye, would always do the right thing. But that did not mean her loved her more.

Happily, the Evans' finished their meal and played their traditional first-evening-back-from-Hogwarts game of Scrabble, in which Andrew just beat his daughter by a handful of points. Lily thrived off of the friendly competition and that night, she drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face, happy to be back with her parents and blissfully unaware of how quickly things were going to change, and not for the better.

* * *

Apparating to a spot outside the strong protective enchantments surrounding Potter Manor, James and Sirius strolled straight through the heavy, magical barriers with ease and headed up the long pathway to the entrance of the stately manor.

Ancient magic protected the household that had been owned by Potters since it was built back in the 14th Century. A leather bound tome sat on the mantelpiece above the fireplace in the drawing room that contained names of every direct member of the Potter family living in the house. It had been a pain trying to get the house to accept Sirius, but after hours of Thomas puzzling through ancient blood lore and protections, he managed to find a loophole that allowed the Potters to add Sirius' name to the tome.

Before the boys could get two feet through the door, a creature ambushed them, head barely reaching James' knees, with eyes like tennis balls and bat-wing ears. It wore a pristine, white pillowcase, embroidered with a purple 'P', but nothing else. The creature squealed and bowed so low that its long, pointed nose almost touched the tiled floor of the entrance hall. To someone not accustomed to it, it would have been a very odd sight.

"Master James, Master Sirius, so good it is to see you. Tippy is been missing you. Tippy is taking your trunks and coats and things and Tippy is leaving you desserts in the kitchen," the pillowcase-clad house elf squeaked with wide eyes, before going to take James and Sirius' things. Then, she reconsidered and put her tiny hands on her non-existent hips, scowling as best she could, "Mistress Andrea is being waiting for you, Mistress Andrea is being worried - where is you been? You shoulds not be worrying Mistress like that." The tiny elf chastised the boys with a pointed finger, bustling them through into the library where Andrea Potter was residing with a cup of tea and piece of cake, before she took the boys' belongings and left the room bowing to her mistress.

"Thank you, Tippy," Andrea Potter called after the elf who was in charge of managing Potter Manor. The woman sat in an armchair in the centre of the library with shoulder length curls of hair pinned away from falling in her face, jet-black to match her son's but streaked with grey, and soft eyes that shone with a smile as she greeted her two sons back from school.

She stood, putting an arm around each of the boys and placing a kiss on their cheeks. An eyebrow rose as Andrea caught the scent of firewhiskey on their breaths – the witch was well aware of James and Sirius' tradition but preferred to pretend she was blissfully unaware. She was wise in her old age, far older than she looked for sure, and had remained at home since James was born.

Andrea and Thomas had been so busy with their careers that they did not even think about having a family until they were moving into their twilight years. It was only in her late forties that the conversation came up about starting a family and a few years later, she fell pregnant with her one and only biological son, James. Sixteen years later, Andrea was more than happy to acquire a second when she took in her son's best friend, Sirius Black.

While there were perks of being an older parent – happily retiring without feeling unaccomplished and being able to spoil their only son endlessly – there were also drawbacks, such as the Potters not having any friends with children James' age. Having spent most of his childhood playing with a young house elf, it was a blessing when James went to Hogwarts and met Sirius.

The years, however, had been kind to the elder witch and, with both James and Thomas always out of the house, she had taken to spending her days in the library painting. One of the smaller bedrooms of the Manor was filled with canvas after canvas that had no home but being stacked in an unused corner of the house.

An easel, paint palette and colourfully splattered apron were placed off to the side of where Andrea had been sat with her tea and cake, somehow looking immaculate although it was clear she had been painting.

"Go get yourselves some dessert, boys. Tippy made you some treacle tart," the witch smiled at James, knowing how much he adored that particular treat. When he was growing up, Tippy was a young elf and her mother was the head of the household. She was the one entrusted with helping Mrs Potter to bring up James and his only friend really, so he and the elf shared a bond. Tippy certainly saw herself as a motherly figure to him; she also frequently made him treacle tarts because she knew he loved them.

Collecting their treats, James and Sirius headed to their den – a room that was James' playroom before his Hogwarts years but quickly became the Marauders' space from then on. It was filled with broomsticks, fireworks, multiple copies of every item that could be bought in Zonko's Joke Shop, and a cabinet of alcohol. It was the perfect headquarters for the four Gryffindors.

The boys ate desserts, talked, planned, plotted and generally hung out in the den for hours and fell asleep on beanbags, not even hearing Thomas Potter return from the Ministry in the early hours of the morning.

* * *

**A/N: I would like to thank Emily (aka disnemily), the James to my Lily, who constantly inspires me and does such a wonderful James that a lot of her influence is actually in my story (e.g. the Godric's Hollow holiday). Snaps for Em! Thank you also to my lovely beta reader, Emilie, who is fantastic and brilliant and there would be so many grammar mistakes and confusions without her. Snaps for Emilie! Last, but certainly not least, thank you to the lovely LittleRedLily who probably brought me more into the Jily shipper life than anyone else and never stops helping me in any way she can. Snaps for Little Red!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Hopefully, the next will be on it's way soon!**

**Reviews are a chilled can of Diet Coke on a summer day :)**


	3. Chapter 2: Strange Encounters

_**Disclaimer:** I am not, nor have I ever been, J.K. Rowling though I do wish I was on every penny, shooting star and rainbow. Every character, reference and general outline plot is hers, unless it is... well... mine._

* * *

** Chapter Two  
****Strange Encounters**

* * *

Lily awoke, having been at home for a few days now, to a sharp rapping of bony knuckles on her bedroom door. She attempted ignore the noise and roll over, even debated putting a soundproofing charm on her bedroom, but before she could act, the sharp voice of Petunia Evans was right beside her ear.

"Wake up, I need to talk to you," the elder girl said matter-of-factly. It was almost incredible to Lily how little emotion her sister could put into her voice, she wondered if she had spent hours perfecting the art of doing so. The thought made her chuckle and gave away that she was not, in fact, asleep.

Rolling over and sitting up, Lily pulled down her Weird Sisters t-shirt and attempted to take her unruly mass of red hair. She glared at her sister who, at nine o'clock in the morning, had her perfect blonde hair precisely primped and wore a smart navy blue skirt suit and matching heels.

Sighing, Lily resigned herself to the fact that her sister was clearly not going to leave. "What is it, Petunia?"

The blonde glanced around the, already messy, bedroom and picked up a chair, tipped the clothes off of it and, placing it beside her sister's bed, sat down. "We need to talk about summer. Now, I know you like being at home because of Mum and Dad and you never seeing them but this year, we really can't be dealing with that," Petunia stated.

Lily opened he mouth to reply, but before she could get a word in, her sister continued. "My relationship with Vernon is getting very serious and I'd hate to jinx things," a slight smile passed over Petunia's tight lips, almost unable to contain her excitement, even to Lily, "but I think he might propose soon… and I don't want anything, or _anyone_," she looked very pointedly at Lily, her demeanour going straight back to her strict and unsmiling one, "ruining my chances. So, you are going to go and see your _freaky_ _friends_ and spend as much time as possible away from Cokeworth. You can take that filthy animal with you too," she finished, acknowledging Athena who was perched on the top of Lily's wardrobe, glaring at the intruder. "Is that clear?"

It was perfectly clear that Petunia was not requesting anything; she was ordering Lily to stay as far away from home as often as possible.

Coldly, the blonde sister stood, "Vernon has taken time off work to come for lunch this afternoon so I expect you gone within the next," she checked the watch on her wrist, "three hours." Petunia walked towards the door but turned back as she reached it with a sickly sweet smile, saying, "And if any of those _weirdos_ come anywhere near this house, you will wish you were never born."

With that final, loving sentiment, Petunia left the room and slammed the door behind her, leaving Lily speechless with three hours to get up and find something to do with herself.

She flopped back down on her bed and groaned, wishing shamefully, and not for the first time, that she was an only child. Rubbing her eyes, Lily rolled herself out of bed, opened her window so that her owl could stretch her wings and picked up her towel heading for a shower to think over how she was going to spend her day.

* * *

By the time she was fully dressed, Lily had been through the pros and cons of owling her friends numerous times, over and over again in her head. It would be nice to see them outside of school, something she had never done apart from bumping into them in Diagon Alley or the Leaky Cauldron. Lily's problem was that they probably already had plans, not expecting her to be available, and she did not want them to feel like they had to hang out with her.

In all honesty, that was a problem Lily had with everything. She always felt like a burden – she certainly was to her family, even if they did not admit it – and it was a complex that infested her every action.

So, instead of owling Marlene or Mary or Alice or Dee, Lily opted to head out alone. Maybe she would go to a library and read for a bit or something. She would find something, she was sure. It would probably be a good idea to find some other stuff to do during the summer. The girls would be around at some point…

Lily resolved to owl Marlene, who, out of all her dorm mates, knew the most about her family situation, AKA Petunia. Using the time she had before having to vacate the house, Lily took out her parchment, quill and ink and began to write to her closest friend.

_27__th__ June 1977_

_Hey Marls,_

_I hope you're enjoying your summer so far and you're not causing too much trouble – I know what you're like! What've you been up to? Tell all and don't spare the details._

_My sister is being less than civil, as per usual, and we've hit a pretty big hiccup quite early on. So instead of not being able to hang out with anyone over the holidays, I have to get out of the house as much as possible. I was rudely awoken early this morning and the ground rules were set so there we go._

_I know you have some plans with your family and with the girls but if you're ever free, it'd be nice to hang out. _

_Speak soon,_

_Lily x_

Folding up the letter, she placed it on her desk ready to send it once her owl returned. Athena was a large, white, barn owl, flecked with browns and greys, which was given to Lily as a gift for her twelfth birthday from her parents. Petunia loathed the bird from the first moment she entered the house, but Lily adored her. The name came to her quickly, having recently become fond of the ancient myths and gods (she even started taking Ancient Studies as an extra curricular subject), and it seemed only natural to name her owl after the goddess whose symbol was an owl.

Checking the time, Lily decided she may as well leave or else she would drift back to sleep and get into even more trouble with her sister.

* * *

James Potter rolled out of bed and into the shower at the obscenely late time of one o'clock. Sirius had left the night before to stay with his uncle, Alphard, and so James was left at home to find his own trouble. Remus and Peter had been over the day before and the four boys had spent the day generally causing mischief around Potter Manor and the ground, annoying almost everyone who lived and worked there. But now the Marauders had gone back to the respective homes and their ringleader was alone again.

After dressing and settling at the dining room table with pancakes from Tippy and the _Daily Prophet_, James began to ponder what to do. He could always start his holiday work, but that was exceedingly unlikely, or go for a nice long fly or sit and do nothing all day or even go to the beach as he had joked he would do. Just before he could decide, his mother entered the room with a cup of pumpkin juice for him and some tea for herself.

"I'm heading out today, I have some errands to run in Diagon Alley," Andrea said, taking a seat opposite her son and a sip of her tea. "Do I _want_ to know what your plans are for the day?" A hint of a smile sparkled through Mrs Potter's eyes, perfectly aware of the things her son could end up doing when left to his own devices.

James shrugged and munched on his mouthful of pancakes; washing them down with a gulp of pumpkin juice before replying, "Don't have any."

"Come with me to Diagon Alley," Mrs Potter said quickly, jumping on a rare opportunity to spend some time with her son. "I need someone to carry the bags," she added with a smile, "and we could get you some new robes for school, you're growing out of your others. We could make a day of it – lunch out and who knows what I'll buy for you…"

If there was a way to get James to come with her, it was bribery. He had plenty of his own money, the Potter's certainly were not short of it, but being treated by you mother is always nicer. Plus, he had nothing better to do.

"Sure, whatever," James mumbled, finishing off his pancakes and all but licking the plate clean. "Let's go then," he said, standing and heading towards the fireplace, summoning a jumper as he walked. Andrea did the same and together they stepped into the green flames and said, clearly, "Diagon Alley."

* * *

Lily's first stop on her quest to find things to do was the Cokeworth Library, a place she used to frequent as a child, however it held little amusement for her now. Unable to concentrate with annoyance and anger at her sister building, the witch found there was little for her in a place full of silence. It was just too loud.

Exiting the large building, Lily realised exactly what she needed. She had not even thought of it up until that point but when it was right in front of her, it seemed obvious. Walking straight across the road and through the doors of _'The King's Head',_ the young witch headed straight to the bar.

"Whiskey, please," Lily asked the bartender. It was the only strong alcoholic drink she could think of, mainly because it also existed in the wizarding world.

"Really? And how old are you, lovely?" The man asked her, seemingly worried that a young girl should be drinking such heavy stuff at midday.

"Old enough," was her simple reply as he poured the drink and took her money.

Lily was well aware that the official drinking age in a pub was eighteen, but she also knew that few people actually cared. Still, to be on the safe side, maybe she should go to the Leaky Cauldron where she was old enough to drink.

The girl took a sip of the golden liquid and made a face as it burned down her throat. She shook her head and prepared herself, resolved to head to the great wizarding pub which held the entrance to Diagon Alley, and downed the remainder of the whiskey. The bartender glanced at Lily, slightly impressed, and nodded as she said goodbye and moved away from the bar.

Only a few times in Lily's life had she actually drunk alcohol. A few times at New Year when she had had some sips of champagne and once during one of the Marauders' stupid parties when it was practically forced down her throat. This left Lily as quite a lightweight and with a complete lack of knowledge as to how she would react to copious amounts of the stuff.

For someone who rarely let her hair down, that sounded exciting.

Before she could second-guess herself, Lily apparated straight to the Leaky Cauldron and ordered herself a double of firewhiskey.

* * *

Flooing into a busy Leaky Cauldron, James and Andrea Potter wiped the soot off of their robes before stepping onto the flagstone floors of the old pub. Mrs Potter, clearly on a mission, headed straight for the exit towards Diagon Alley, nodding briefly to Tom, who bowed and offered her a drink. James followed behind but stopped in his tracks as a voice he recognised ordered a double of the hard stuff.

Lily.

Was it Lily? Why would Lily be ordering a firewhiskey, a double at that, in the Leaky Cauldron of all places? And when it was barely noon! That was Sirius behaviour, not Lily behaviour. Plus, she always spent her holidays with her family. It can't be Lily. But that was a voice he would recognise anywhere.

"Mum, I have to do something. I'll see you at home, I'm sorry," James called after his mother who was already almost out the door. She sighed and called an affirmation just as her son turned back to where he thought the voice had come from.

The figure at the bar turned, showing the face and a mass of fiery red that was clearly Lily Evans. Staying a few paces away, James watched her head over towards a booth in a darkened corner of the pub, clearly hoping not to be recognised. He followed but watched from afar, trying to gauge her state. Something was clearly bothering her – her furrowed brow and intense concentration on the glass in front of her told him that, plus it was not her first drink of the day.

Scooting in the booth opposite her, Lily nearly jumped out of her skin, shocked to have someone invading her thoughts with their presence. "Evans?" Tentatively, he spoke to the girl in front of him, "Rough morning?"

Ensuring she had not spilled any of her precious alcohol, Lily pursed her lips and glared at James. "You could say that," the redhead replied as calmly as her voice would allow before sipping at her drink.

The sudden presence of James Potter, knocked Lily off kilter, giving her a slight head rush, although she covered it well. Now she thought about it, it was probably worth getting something to eat seen as she had skipped out on breakfast. The drink would go to her head far too quickly on an empty stomach.

Lily was just about to snap at him, asking why he was bothering her, but instead decided to bite her tongue. She and James had never really been on good terms – they were acquaintances that shared friends and argued more often than most. After all, he was an arrogant toe rag. But right now, Lily did not have so many friends and so maybe she could not be so harsh just this once.

James sighed and motioned for a waitress to come over, clearly this was going to take some time and he did not want to leave Lily alone. Things could only go downhill if someone did not step in and it seemed James was the only one willing. Being Lily Evans' therapist was the last thing he wanted to do but at this point his options were limited.

The waitress arrived and James ordered a single for himself and told her to put everything Lily had ordered on his family's tab. The witch opposite him tried to protest, but he quietened her and decided she probably needed food too so ordered some chips.

Once the waitress had gone, Lily leaned over the table and said in an angry whisper, "Potter, I do not need you looking after me, nor do I need you buying me things. I am perfectly -" she hiccupped, "- fine, thank you very much."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say," he replied with disbelief. "Care to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Not particularly."

Lily looked away from him and traced circles around the rim of her goblet. She did not want to talk about her family problems and most definitely not to James Potter. Marlene was the only person who even had inkling about her familial issues and she did not even know the half of it. Just thinking about them made her want to drink more, so she downed the goblet in front of her and when the waitress returned with her companion's, she ordered another. This time, however, with soda water – she had not planned nor wanted to be drunk in the present company.

The silence between them quickly became as stifling as it had in the library back in Cokeworth and James made no move to release the tension so Lily spoke up.

"So… Potter… what brings you to the Leaky Cauldron?" Awkwardly, she chewed at the inside of her cheek and drummed her nails on the table.

James grinned, that stupid, lopsided, trademark grin-slash-smirk, which only irked Lily even more, as he clearly enjoyed that fact he had outlasted her in silence.

"My mother had errands so I came with," he shrugged, "there was nothing better to do." James took a sip of his own drink, not planning on becoming in any means tipsy, knowing he could handle the alcohol far better than his companion. It was half-impressive and half-disconcerting just how well she was doing. James had barely seen the witch touch alcohol; unless you counted Butterbeer (which had such a small percentage of alcohol it was ridiculous) or the time she had a sip of firewhiskey at a party in Gryffindor. "Now that I've shared my ever so interesting story, care to share what made you stumble into the nearest wizarding bar at such an early hour on a Monday, shall I add?"

Lily glared, yet again. It was amazing her eyes did not ache from the amount of force she put into the glare. "And how, Potter, do you know that this isn't my usual holiday behaviour?"

"Because I'm pretty sure muggles don't become adults until eighteen. I did take Muggle Studies in third year, Evans, I'm not stupid."

Lily almost spat out her drink, remembering how James would use the things he had learnt in that class to attempt to woo her. It was both the most hilarious and embarrassing thing at the same time. Merlin, when he learnt about Shakespeare, he refused to stop reciting sonnets at her every time they passed in the corridor. It had almost make Lily hate summer days, the number of times he tried to compare her to one.

"Fine," James said, before she could even think up a reply, "don't tell me. I'll guess." He smirked again and Lily began to dread the next thing that came from his mouth. "You just found out your long-term boyfriend was actually an acromantula in disguise."

"I think I would have noticed that before now, don't you?"

"So you do have a boyfriend?"

"I neither deny nor confirm," she retorted simply, struggling to hide a hint of a smile from her eyes.

"Okay then, you accidentally hexed both of your parents' ears off?"

Lily nearly choked on her drink, yet again, as she shook her head.

Taking a moment, James put on a serious face like he was thinking really hard before bursting into a long story, "I got it this time. You got home from Hogwarts to find your family missing and since then you have been on a quest to find them and bring them home. You've past the swamps of hinkypunks, slayed chimeras and dragons, solved many a sphinx's riddle, battled with fire crabs and after going to the ends of the earth and failing to find your family, you decided to come and get outrageously sloshed to mask the pain."

What intended to be a joke fell rather flat with both parties, and they both downed their drinks almost simultaneously. "It can't be as bad as that, Evans. What's going on with you?"

James had always been in incredible awe of how Lily handled difficult situations, so seeing her resort to alcohol was concerning. After Snape had called her a name-which-will-not-be-repeated in fifth year, she had held her head high even though everyone knew she must have been broken up about it. Never once did Lily even entertain the idea of drinking away the pain.

Beginning to feel woozier and woozier with every drink, Lily's lips were loosening. The laughter had helped too, softened her anger even if just a bit. "My sister is a bitch," she chuckled to herself, amazed that such a simple sentence could pretty much sum up everything. "And it's all my fault."

Lily paused, knowing it was true but having never said it aloud. "If I wasn't a witch, my sister and I would still be close, my mother would have never been ill, my family wouldn't be falling apart and I would not be sitting alone in a freaking _pub_ because I was kicked out of the house for being a… a _freak_."

"One, Evans, you're not sat alone," James replied, gesturing to himself with a grin, "and two, if being able to go anywhere in the world with a mere _'pop'_, charming objects to do your bidding and transfiguring a pelican into a water goblet makes you a freak, then you should embrace the term and be proud! You are one of the most bright and talented witches in our year; if you can't see that and if your family aren't proud of that, then that's they're own damn loss. Clearly the only way your sister can compete with your brilliance is to bully you and I'm pretty sure that makes her the freak, not you."

This caught Lily's attention, and she stopped drinking for a second, placing her goblet back on the table. She knew James paid attention to her, too much to be honest, but the idea that he had such a high opinion of her made her feel quite shameful that she had such a low one of him. He was arrogant, a prankster, a joker, a bully himself, even! She had told him so on numerous occasions, and yet he thought she was brilliant. He was the one here trying to make her feel better and Lily just felt ashamed.

She had already said too much about her family, more than she had told anyone, and to James Potter no less. All he had been, since he sat down opposite her, was kind but the vulnerability Lily was feeling as she spilled her deepest feelings about her family was not a something she ever wished to feel and certainly not in a pub to someone who was not even her friend.

"I have to go. Thanks for the drinks," the witch said quickly, not daring to look at her companion as she stood and started to leave. However, the food had not arrived and the girl had had a decent amount of firewhiskey, so quickly began to topple.

"Lily, no, wait," James stood and caught her before she could do any damage to herself.

"Wh-what did you just call me?" A shocked Lily Evans stuttered as the wizard set her straight.

"Evans, you just nearly hurt yourself because you've had too much to drink and you're focussing on that fact that I used your given name? Really?" James sighed and shook his head. "Look, let me at least get you home safe; you aren't steady."

The witch could not protest as he put an arm around her and headed toward the door. At that precise moment, the waitress arrived with the chips, which James took from her with a smile and shoved them in Lily's hand. "Eat," was all he said as the pair left the Leaky Cauldron and headed out onto a street in muggle London.

* * *

After a long period of silence when Lily refused to talk to James and merely ate her chips, the wizard eventually managed to coax where she lived out of her and took her home via side-along apparition.

Entering the place that Lily Evans called home was a very surreal experience for James, especially with a slightly drunk and recovering Lily on his arm. He could hear voices in one of the rooms down the hall and started to head there but the witch shook her head and whispered frantically, "no, no, no, upstairs," as she attempted to divert him.

Sadly, the damage had already been done and, as Lily stumbled up the stairs supported by James, Petunia excused herself from the table and went into the hallway to see what the banging and whispering was about.

Storming up the stairs, she grabbed her younger sister's wrist, threw a "who the hell are you?" at James and dragged Lily into her bedroom with her companion following closely behind.

"Was my message not clear enough for you this morning? I said stay away from the house and you waltz back in, having been drinking by the smell of it," Petunia took a breath and made a face, "and just to top it all off, you brought one of your _freaky friends_ with you which I _explicitly_ told you not – to – do."

James' face was a picture. He realised at once why Lily had been drinking so much because if he had a sibling like the woman stood in front of him, he would never be sober.

"I take it you're the sister. James Potter," he said, moving to hold out a hand to her, but changing his mind and putting it back into the pocket of his trousers, "I'd like to say it's a pleasure but it most certainly isn't."

Petunia was taken aback and let her sister go, who dropped to sit on the floor quietly.

"Now, I was merely bringing your sister home safe so she didn't get hurt and if you're looking for someone to blame for the state she's in, I'd consider checking the mirror, love, because you certainly have no idea how to be a good sister. Why don't you try learning how to do that before asking favours, or even ordering around, someone who _does_ have the capabilities of being a good sibling if you let her?"

James went to the door of Lily's bedroom, a room that, in alternative circumstances, he would have thoroughly enjoyed being in, but turned before opening the door, "I'll be leaving now and you might want to get back to whatever precious occasion your sister just _'ruined'_."

With that, the wizard waltzed straight out of the house and was gone, leaving both Evans sisters open mouthed and stunned.

And that was how it began.

* * *

Sighing, James walked through the front door of Potter Manor. It had been quite a day, he had to admit, even though it was only late afternoon. He was shocked at just how terrible Lily's sister was to her and resolved to be less hard on the witch in the future, feeling slightly ashamed of how much he had enjoyed antagonising her in the past.

If James had not been so wrapped up in his thoughts about Lily, he would have noticed that something was wrong as soon as he walked in the door without Tippy to greet him. As it was, he only realised when he entered the living room to find Sirius, his mother and someone he did not recognise wearing Healer robes all looking at him.

Confused, and apprehensive, James spoke up, "What's happened?"

The look on Sirius' face and the fact that he was even present told James all he needed to know, but he wanted to hear it out loud. He did not what to believe that any more horrors could befall his best friend's life.

"Uncle Alphard's dead."

* * *

**A/N: Dun dun duuuuuuuunnn. My first half, kind of, not really cliffhanger of the story! I hope everybody had a good Halloween, oh wait, it was our OTPs thirty second death day anniversary *sobs*. I didn't actually wallow in sadness all day, I spent it commemorating them through this fic by writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it.**

**Thank you to everyone who has read it so far and is following the story. I am so grateful to everyone and amazed at the number of people who have even stopped to look. So thank you, thank you, thank you **

**xoxo Andromache**


	4. Chapter 3: Woe, Wills & Walburga Black

_**Disclaimer: **Characters and basic canon plot points are owned by the queen of soul saving literature, aka the one and only Joanne Rowling, and not me._

* * *

**Chapter Three  
****Woe, Wills & Walburga Black**

* * *

"Uncle Alphard is dead."

James stopped and ran a hand through his already thoroughly messy hair. "Mate, I'm sorry," he said as he headed towards his best friend, "I know what he meant to you."

It was obvious Sirius was upset, but he was not exactly close to his family and Alphard was no exception; his uncle was just one of the two family members he still talked to (the other being his cousin, Andromeda).

When sorted into Gryffindor many years ago, Sirius' situation at home went dramatically downhill. He had never really agreed with the blood-purity nonsense but he was too young to understand or reject the ideas. Gryffindor was like a turning point for him, a chance to choose his life instead of taking the one handed to him. His parents forced him to attend all of the extremist pureblood gatherings and parties and balls in the hope that he would stop being so foolish, but instead that only set Sirius against them even more. That was where he really got to know his uncle.

Alphard was the brother of Sirius' mother, Walburga, and, though he very occasionally attended family gatherings, he chose to live a more solitary life than most. So, at the aforementioned gatherings, Alphard was often found off in a corner alone, just watching, and that was where Sirius had found him. His uncle disagreed with how he was treated and sympathised but, having grown up with Walburga, was not about to say anything.

Over the years the two formed a bond, both not quite in but not quite out of the Black family, and Sirius had come to enjoy spending time, approximately twice a year with his uncle. However, the last time Sirius had seen him, back at Easter, he had been taken ill and over the coming months things had only gotten worse, though it seems to have been worse than predicted. All James could think was, why had Sirius not gone to him straight away instead of spending two days with the Marauders.

* * *

That evening was a solemn one in the Potter household. Alphard, as a Black, was seen as part of the Wizarding High Society, even though he had tried to keep away from it in his life, and so his death announcement was splashed in the pages of the _Evening Prophet_. James read the article alone in the kitchen:

_This evening we must sadly announce the death of the pureblood wizard, Alphard Black, son of Pollux and Irma Black and brother of Walburga and Cygnus Black III. A representative of the family said, "the hole Mr Black leaves behind him is great and he shall be sorely missed by all as a loving son, brother and uncle." The funeral will be held outside the Black crypt, Islington, London. The Ministry ask you request your portkeys as soon as possible._

James sighed, perfectly aware of how horrendous this Saturday was going to be. As a member of a pureblood family, and Sirius' best friend, he was expected to be there, but as was the whole Black family, the Malfoys, the Crabbes, the Rosiers, the Lestranges, the Crouch family… and so continue the pompous pureblood families. The only reprieve James could think of was that it meant Marlene, as a McKinnon, would be there and as would Frank Longbottom, who would hopefully bring Alice too. Plus, the other Marauders would be there to support Sirius. He just hoped none of Sirius' idiotic family members decided to provoke him. A family feud was not needed right now, especially with the fragile state of the Wizarding World.

Putting the funeral out of his mind, James went up to his bedroom on the third floor, passing Sirius' closed door on the way. The death would not break his best friend, but he knew it had hit him hard.

But as James lay in bed, trying to sleep, he was not thinking about his closest friend; instead his thoughts drifted to the witch he had spent the day with. Lily was fragile and vulnerable underneath the thick wall she had put up to protect herself and she was stuck in a home where she was not very welcome for the summer. To make matters worse, as far as he was aware, he was the only one who knew about it. That needed to change.

Jumping out of bed, James scribbled a note to another of his old family friends, who just so happened to be Lily's best friend.

_Marley,_

_Saw Evans today in London and she wasn't so good. I don't know if she's spoken to you but do me a favour and invite her to yours? She needs to get out the house and you know what she's like, she won't invite herself. Just have a sleepover for a few days or whatever you girls do, bring her on Saturday if you have to. _

_Cheers,_

_James_

He briefly wondered if the letter seemed more than what it was, if it seemed like he was more invested in the witch's wellbeing than he should be. Staring at the letter again, James shook the thought from his head and resolved to find one of the family owls before he changed his mind. It was likely that Carrington was already out hunting, but Llewellyn, the eagle owl James had named when he was nine and deeply obsessed with tales of the "Dangerous" Dai Llewellyn and his incredible risk taking in Quidditch, preferred to go out a bit later.

James headed to the wall of windows that opened out onto a balcony on the south side of the Manor and stepped out into the night air. For the beginning of summer, it was relatively chilly but that was unsurprising in England and the wizard was by far used to the bipolar British weather. James whistled and waited, hoping Llewellyn was around and did not take too long. Soon, the sound of wings could be heard and the large, regal bird landed on the stone balustrade and pecked at James' hand.

"Sorry, mate, I haven't got any treats," James said softly, "but I'll get you some if you take this to Marlene and bring her reply back straight away." Owls could be tricky, especially Llewellyn. If you offended him, he would do nothing for you. Bribery was the only option. Quickly, before the bird could protest too much, James tied the note to its leg and it flew off.

James yawned, heading back into his bedroom. He had had quite the day.

* * *

Lily awoke the next day, yet again, to a sharp rapping of bony knuckles on her bedroom door. Again, she attempted ignore the noise and roll over, even debated putting a soundproofing charm on her bedroom, but then she realised the noise was not coming from the direction of her door, but the window.

Confused, the witch rolled out of bed and opened her curtains, revealing an owl she recognised to belong to the McKinnon family. Lily unlatched the window and the bird immediately flew in and perched itself on top of the wardrobe, dropping a letter on the bed as it went.

_28__th__ June 1977_

_Lils,_

_I know you usually tend to spend your holidays with your family, but I have a feeling you could do with getting out sometimes. I mean, you and your sister don't exactly get along and, as much as you love your parents, you don't need to spend every second with them, especially if Petunia's there. _

_Why don't you come spend the week at mine? You've never really had a chance to meet all my family and it'd be nice to see you. Plus, Mary is coming round tomorrow so we could all have a fun day. You don't have to stay the whole week if you really don't want to, but at least come for tomorrow and stay a night, okay? We'd really like to see you._

_Please write back, Lily, and please say yes._

_Love,_

_Marlene xoxo_

"Potter," Lily muttered, rolling her eyes. Though she admitted that he had successfully silenced her sister and Tuney had then left her alone _all_ evening – which was brilliant – he should not have called on Marlene to help. He should not have interfered.

But in truth, Lily was going to send that letter to her best friend, which was still residing on her desk, so all Potter did was get there first. It was not _that_ much of a disaster.

The witch quickly grabbed a piece of parchment and scribbled, _I'll see you tomorrow_, before attaching it to the owl's leg and ducking as the bird swooped over her head and back out the window.

* * *

Lily informed her parents straight away before packing to leave. Though she would never admit it to anyone, she was grateful for what Potter had done. With that and the things he had done for her the day before, it seemed like he was turning over a new leaf, _they_ were turning over a new leaf. Maybe things between them would not be quite so bad anymore.

Promptly on Wednesday morning, Lily apparated outside her garden gate in the alley that ran along the end of the gardens on her street to the Leaky Cauldron. The witch was not overly fond of being back so soon, but Marlene had said she would meet Lily there to take her side-along to the McKinnon household, as she had never been.

Timidly, Lily opened the door to the great pub and entered, hoping she would not be recognised. No such luck of course. Tom, the landlord, called over to her almost straight away, "Red, hey Red, I take it Mr Potter got you home safe?" Lily nodded, but did not say anything. It very quickly became clear the gods were not being kind to the young witch, as Marlene took that precise moment to come up behind Lily, having heard exactly what Tom had said.

"Lily, Lily, Lily," her friend said in a condescending tone, "I think there's something you missed out in your little note to me." Marley raised an eyebrow at her best friend and turned to take her toward the booth where she and Mary were sitting, adding under her breath, "and James too, it seems."

Marlene slid onto the bench and scooted up so Lily could sit beside her. "So, do tell us, Lils, what you were doing in the Leaky Cauldron that required you to go home with James Potter, of all people?"

Lily rolled her eyes, she had so hoped she would avoid the Q&A but she was foolish to think such a thing when in the presence of her friends. "You _what_?!" Mary chimed in, clearly surprised and to be honest, the redhead could not blame her. The girls had been friends since first year and both were well aware of Lily's detestation of James Potter _and_ lack of alcohol abuse through her teenage years.

Mary, like Lily, was a muggleborn and that was what had initially brought them together back in first year. The girl had the prettiest light brown hair that fell in waves to just below her shoulders and eyes a gorgeous shade of grey-blue that just pulled you in. She was naturally stunning which frustrated Lily to no end, especially when she had the most nightmarishly uncontrollable hair possible and her friends had effortless perfection in hair form.

In first year, Mary had been very quiet, almost like she felt she did not belong with them but, like Marlene had built Lily back up when Snape had crushed her, she also brought Mary out of her shell – Marley was a gift from the gods, it was true. Now, you could barely recognise quiet little Mary MacDonald because her brightness, laughter and smile lit up a room and shone infectiously.

"Lily! Come on, you can't just hang out with _James Potter_ and not tell us every dirty little detail!" Mary exclaimed, that infectious grin currently plastered all over her face.

"Look, it wasn't like that okay. I wasn't feeling very well and he found me and took me home because I couldn't apparate. That's all," Lily sighed, hoping the conversation would end with that but knowing it would not.

"You weren't feeling very well in a pub? Would that have anything to do with copious amount of alcohol?" Marley joined in, Mary's smile having passed on to her.

"There may have been a little bit of firewhiskey involved…" said Lily reluctantly, trying hard not to join in with the bloody grin fest that was taking place at their table.

Both girls burst into whoops and cheers and clapped her on the back, and Lily just could not help but join in, laughing more at her friends' reaction than anything.

"Lily Evans the hardened drinker; who'd have thought it?" Mary laughed, bringing out the camera she always kept glued to her person and snapped Lily to remember the moment.

* * *

Once the girls calmed down, they decided to head off to the McKinnon house. Together they apparated to the Victorian terraced house that Lily thought looked rather small, especially because of what Marlene had always said about having a large family.

Stepping through the front door, Lily stopped in her tracks, unable to believe her eyes. The house, which looked like typical two storey building and like every other house on the street, was, in fact, nothing like any of the other houses on the street. There were four floors that Lily could count from where she stood and passageways leading just about everywhere. It was like the house had an undetectable extension charm placed on it, if that were even possible, or as though it were alive, as many believed Hogwarts was. It was enchanting.

Lily smiled, thankful for her wonderful friends… and also a tiny bit for James Potter.

The girls spent the day catching up, laughing and generally enjoying themselves - Marlene talked of quidditch, Mary took photos (a passion she had maintained from her muggle life and only become more exciting with the addition of their ability to move) and Lily confided in them her situation with Petunia. While Mary was aware of the Evans' having family problems, she did not know the details and letting someone else in was hard for Lily. She never meant to bring Potter into it, and though she still regretted it, it did bring her to look at him in a different way. This she did not tell the girls.

Soon it was time to sleep and the trio settled in Marlene's bedroom, which seemed, from the inside, almost too big to be accommodated by the house and yet it existed. Sleep came quickly, having had a busy day together and, though Lily had not planned to, she had a feeling she would end up staying the week.

* * *

Saturday rolled around quicker than expected and the black dress robes worn by the members of the Potter household punctuated the solemn day. Remus and Peter had stayed over the night before and, together with Mr and Mrs Potter, they took their designated portkey to Islington.

However, the McKinnon household was less organised. Lily, who had not been informed she would be attending a funeral should she choose to stay the week, had not really bought anything suitable and had spent all morning attempting to transfigure a top and skirt into a dress and charm it black. The charming was working far better than transfiguration, but that was the story of her life.

Minutes before the portkey was due to leave, Lily rushed down the three flights of stairs between Marlene's room and the living room. There, the rest of the rather large McKinnon family was gathered around a small, shabby-looking alarm clock. Just at the last second, Lily touched her finger to the object, feeling the hook in her bellybutton as everyone was transported from the house to a place where they joined the other witches and wizards attending the funeral.

The property, completely invisible to the muggle eye, was situated not far from Sirius' childhood home and the place where all Blacks were buried since way back in the medieval times. The crypt itself was a large, black, granite box, essentially, marked with the Black crest and revolting motto, _'Toujours pur'_. It was incredible to think that every Black from the fifth century until now was residing in that building, but with magic, almost anything was possible.

Entering the iron-gated plot of land surrounding the crypt, Sirius found himself among families who, like his, had embraced the ideals of pureblood supremacy, families who were too scared to speak up against it and even the followers of the wizard dubbing himself as 'Lord Voldemort'. Sirius was fairly certain that his own family were heavily involved with Voldemort and even wondered whether he would rear his, supposedly ugly, face today. Though somehow that seemed unlikely.

The only reprieve was the Potters, McKinnons and Longbottoms; Sirius even thought he spotted the towering figure and trademark long, white beard of his headmaster, Professor Dumbledore.

The service was uncomfortable to say the least. The Black family sat at the front with their close extended relatives, like the Malfoys, Lestranges and Crabbes, beside them. The crowd who had turned up were mainly the purebloods of the wizarding high society and Ministry officials, both required to pay their respects to a member of a high profile family.

However, as Sirius sat at the back with his friends, he could not help but think how much Alphard would have hated the whole thing. His uncle hated big occasions and hated being the centre of attention, both of which were main characteristics of his funeral.

Sirius was glad for his friends' support. Admittedly, Prongs, Marley and Frank were required to be present but Moony and Wormtail had come too. Plus, Alice had come with Frank and even the Lovely Miss Evans had turned up with the McKinnons. He would never admit he needed it, but Sirius was glad for his friends' support.

* * *

It was his uncle's funeral, but in all honesty, Regulus barely knew the wizard. In fact, he could not even remember ever talking to him. The only thing he recalled was that he looked a lot like his other uncle, Cygnus, but older and quieter. He had also always seemed far kinder than his two siblings.

The service was pleasant. They talked of beliefs, strength of character, what a loss to the wizarding world it was and all of that. It was bullshit. His mother had clearly put everything together.

No one at the funeral really knew Uncle Alphard, Regulus supposed, and yet they all had to be there; if anything was more important than beliefs, it was blood.

* * *

It was over, finally. Lily had felt like the odd witch out all day, as though she had had a target on her back or something. Her fiery, red hair had always made her feel conspicuous but this was something different, something more. It hit her just minutes into the service as she looked around and noted the number of people who were throwing her dirty looks. Why she had not realised before that moment, she was unsure, but now she felt foolish. She was the only muggleborn witch or wizard present. She had even heard Sirius say something about his cousin Andromeda not coming because she had married a muggle.

The thought of being surrounded by so many pureblood supremacists worried Lily slightly, even though she knew they would not do anything with so many Ministry officials and Dumbledore present. It still shook her up a bit.

As Lily, accompanied by Marlene and her family, started to head back to the entrance, James approached, the other three Marauders nowhere to be seen. "Everyone is staying at mine tonight – I've also invited Macdonald, Wright and Bones. The lovebirds will be there too," he said, acknowledging Frank and Alice not too far away from them. "It'd be good to see you there," he added, looking directly at Lily.

First Monday, and now this? What was up with James Potter? They hung out in a big group occasionally at school and that was fine; they avoided each other as much as possible and that was fine. But somehow, in the space of one week, he had managed to help her twice, not say a single mocking word to her, be nice to her, actually sound like her cared about her more than once, and now he was directly requesting her presence and sounding like he genuinely wanted her there.

They did not get along. James Potter and Lily Evans were not friends. If they ended up somehow in the same room, there would be snarky comments from both parties, and probably a detention or two flung Potter's way. The only reason they had cooled down a little last year was for their friends' sakes, but that did not mean they were friends and it did not mean that they got along. So why had things changed?

Lily did not have time to think it over as Marley confirmed they would be there and headed off as her friend tailed behind.

* * *

"Mr Black, your presence is required in the reading of the will," a short, plump wizard interrupted Sirius' thoughts as he stood, staring at the crypt that was now his uncle's tomb. The wizard continued, "Your mother-"

"That woman is not my mother," Sirius interrupted, eyes not moving from the black granite.

"As you wish. Mrs Black has allowed us to use her home to read the will and the close family will be congregating there shortly." With that, the man departed, leaving Sirius alone.

Being back in his childhood home was the last thing he wanted, especially with the people who were supposed to be his family. He was surprised Walburga had even allowed him to be let back into the house.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out what looked to a muggle eye to simply be a mirror, however, upon muttering "James Potter", a different face appeared in the glass instead of Sirius'.

"Padfoot, what's up?" James said into his identical mirror that showed the face of his best friend.

"Alphard's will is being read in Grimmauld Place so I have to head over. Don't wait, I'll see you back at home," Sirius replied into his own as he began to leave the plot where the crypt was concealed.

"Not a chance, I'm coming with you. There is no way in Godric's Hell that I'm letting you walk into a den of snakes on your own. No way. I'll meet you there," James finished, his face disappearing from Sirius' mirror, leaving him with only his own.

While Sirius was not overly fond of the idea of James coming with him into said den of snakes, it would be better than going alone. Maybe Prongs would be able to keep him in check.

* * *

"Right, everyone is here. That is, apart from Mrs Andromeda Tonks, am I correct?" The Ministry official looked around the room, walls plastered with the faces of the wizards and witches in front of him in the form of a family tree. The looks of disgust on the faces of his present company told him they were not fond of the particular missing family member.

"Yes," Sirius said from the corner of the room, as far away from his family and as close to the door as he could possibly get, where he stood with James. It seemed no one else was going to answer the question and Sirius just wanted it all to be over so he could get out of there. The living room of Number 12, Grimmauld Place still had the vile family tree plastered on the walls, minus a few little details such as his face and Dromeda's, who had been blasted off when Sirius still lived there. He assumed his had gone just after he moved in with the Potters.

"Good. Right. We will begin then," the wizard reshuffled his papers, and took a pair of reading glasses from his robes, "'Herein is set forth the last will and testament of Alphard Canopus Black.' Now, Mr Black left only one specific bequest. The remainder of his estate, consisting of Number 8, Waddlbury Road, Newmarket, Suffolk and its contents is to be split evenly between his two siblings, Mrs Walburga Agave Black and Mr Cygnus Black III."

At this point the portly wizard turned to Sirius and James stood in the corner, pushing his glasses back up his nose, "Mr Black's one and only specific bequest was… 'To Sirius Arcturus Black, I leave my Gringotts Vault, Number Seven Hundred and Eleven, including it's contents in its entirety."

Mouths dropped of every single person in he room except one. James Potter stood in the doorway, smirking like a pixie that had just tied a wizard's shoelaces together. Sirius had pretty much just inherited his uncle's whole fortune, and the Black's had come out of it with a house and a load of junk.

The first person to move was Walburga. Her black eyes were like death and she glared daggers at her eldest son as she slowly stood. "You." She paused, trying hard to keep her voice under control, but quickly giving up. "YOU _FILTHY_ BLOOD TRAITOR. A STAIN OF DISHONOUR. YOU ARE _NOTHING_ BUT A TAINT OF SHAME ON THE HOUSE OF OUR FATHERS. HOW _DARE_ YOU STEP A FOOT INSIDE THIS HOUSE," the woman screamed, saliva flying from her mouth with each syllable, eyes on fire.

Suddenly, the witch screeched and raised her wand and Sirius thought for a moment that he was about to die, but instead Walburga turned and fired, purple flames shooting from the tip of her wand and hitting the spot on the wall where her brother's face used to reside.

"GET OUT!" she screamed again, to her disowned son and his best friend. Both were out of London before Walburga Black broke down on her living room floor, heartbroken by the abandonment of now both her brother and her son.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, who feels a teeny tiny bit sorry for Walburga? Still no one? Okay, good, because she totally deserved it.**

**Yay! Happy 300 views to HTL! You don't know how unbelievably happy this makes me. In less than a week I have managed to have 300 people from _all over the world_ look at and/or read my fic, which I find absolutely incredible. Thank you so very much to each and every one of you.**

**Anyway, I just want to say that I am aiming to make this fic as canon as possible. You should see me sat here in the study typing away on my laptop with all seven HP books, the three Hogwarts Library books and fourteen tabs of the HP wiki open on the main mac. Yes, I am using two computers so I can so this. I feel like I'm going mad with all my research. But anyhow, if you spot anything that is not canonically correct (that is, not opinion - though you are completely allowed to have one - but canon fact), feel free to let me know and, if I can, I will change it.**

**Also, for more information, update news, outtakes and other random stuff, check out my blog, _princessofilium on tumblr._**

**Shoutout to the best friend, the wonderful Kathryn, who my Mary is very loosely based upon. See more on her in the next few chapters (probably, I haven't actually started writing it yet - yes, I am writing as I go)**

**Please, please review because I'd love to hear what you guys think!**

**xoxo Andromache**


	5. Chapter 4: Butterbeer Is Thicker Than Bl

_**Disclaimer:** As much as I regret to inform you, I am not the one and only Ms Joanne Rowling, and these characters, main canon plot lines and the entire wizarding world belong to her and not me._

* * *

**Chapter Four  
****Butterbeer Is Thicker Than Blood**

* * *

Potter Manor was packed for the next few weeks with comings and goings of all kinds of wizards, witches and magical beings. Some to see Mrs Potter, some to see Mr Potter on the rare occasion he was at home, but most to see James Potter.

It all began after Alphard's funeral when all nine, soon-to-be, seventh year Gryffindors plus special guests Frank Longbottom and Edgar Bones assembled in the Potter household for a pick-me-up or five, and from then on the eleven friends often ended up in the Worcestershire Manor at any spare moment.

James and Sirius returned home from the reading of the will to find everyone already present and waiting in the den. Tippy had brought in masses of food, which she had clearly been making all afternoon, including desserts, and when the final two Marauders arrived, Sirius went straight over and picked up a piece of chocolate cake.

He grinned, clearly wanting to put the day behind him, and dived in, everyone else following his lead. Soon, there was a satisfied mumbling around the room as everyone's hunger was beginning to be satiated.

"I think after today we all deserve a thoroughly good drink, don't you?" James stood and headed over to the cabinet in the corner and pulled out multiple bottles, leaving the door open because he was pretty sure they would need some more a bit later.

On the table he placed a large bottle of Ogden's Firewhiskey, some Beetle Berry Whiskey, a few bottles of Daisyroot Draught and even some good old Butterbeer. He figured that would cover just about everybody, no matter how little alcohol they wished to consume, but he also got Tippy to bring some pumpkin juice from the kitchen just in case.

Sirius was over in a flash, stealing the bottle of Ogden's and taking a swig before passing it to James. They needed it after having to deal with the Blacks – which reminded James, he and Sirius needed to talk about that later.

Marlene took the bottle from James and before long, just about everybody had had some firewhiskey and their own drinks. Lily decided to play it cool, sticking to the Butterbeer and having a tiny sip of firewhiskey when it was handed to her. She did not want a repeat of Monday, especially not in Potter's own house. She felt awkward enough as it was.

When she had arrived with Marlene, Lily's mouth had dropped to the floor. She knew Potter was well off and his family were quite prominent and all but _oh my Merlin_. The Manor was huge, nestled in the Worcestershire countryside and surrounded by the Malvern Hills. The grey and brown stones, high roofs and huge chimneys towered over the acres of land that was clearly also owned by the Potters. There were archways, timber beams, flagstones, statues of centaurs and wizards and archers and a bloody _lake_. James-_bloody_-Potter had a _bloody_ lake.

The inside of the house was just as incredible. An elf met the two witches at the door and took their things before Marlene led her to the den. The main entrance hall was incredible, with two sets of stairs on either side of the passageway to the rest of the house. Lily peeked into every room on the way through to the den and saw large, open fireplaces, low beams, wood panelling on the walls and stunning chandeliers. It had the grandeur of Hogwarts but warmer and smaller.

For a brief moment, Lily wondered if Potter had invited her just to show off his house. It would be the kind of thing he would have done back in fifth year when she believed his head could not have gotten any bigger… but at the same time, he had never mentioned the place. In all the time she had argued with him, he had never mentioned that he lived in a mansion or the true extent of his wealth. Maybe he had never been as bad as she had made him out to be.

Lily took a sip of her firewhiskey and laid her head in Mary's lap who was sat next to her. She was a tall, slip of a girl with eyes of a gorgeous dull blue that shone down as she looked at her friend, took a photo of her, and giggled, "Tired, Lil?"

"Maybe," Lily groaned at the flash of the camera, but then laughed as Mary took a sip of her own drink, some Daisyroot Draught, and missed her mouth, spilling it down her top. Both girls burst into fits of giggles that soon drew the attention of the others who joined in the mirth.

"Got a bit of a drinking problem there, MacDonald?" Lupin smirked, his green eyes sparkling as he laughed.

The only two people in the room not laughing were Dee and Edgar who were snuggled in the corner, whispering and giggling to each other in what Sirius believed was a revolting fashion. He picked up a piece of bream from the table and chucked it at Edgar's forehead, missing his target and instead hitting Dee.

"Oi! Bones! Wright! Want to join in with everyone else or shall we get Tippy to make you up a room?" Laughter rang around the room again as Dee turned a shade of red that competed with Lily's hair.

"Talking of rooms," a grin spread across Marley's face that made Lily feel self-conscious, "Potter, you neglected to tell me in your letter how you took our precious Miss Evans home; you didn't just _see_ her in London. Care to explain?"

Now it was Lily's turn to blush. She sat up straight and glared daggers at her best friend. The information even caught the attention of Dee and Edgar who shuffled close into the group and, in unison with Alice, Frank and the other three Marauders exclaimed, "_WHAT_?!"

"Oh, wow, seems Mary and I were the only ones who knew…" the witch said innocently. Lily was going to _kill_ her.

The whole time James did not say a word, just raised his eyebrows and took another drink.

"Whoa now, Prongs, why were we not informed?" Sirius exclaimed, acting offended.

"Yeah, you can't have possibly believed this information was unimportant?" Peter Pettigrew chimed in, sat in the corner nursing some Berry Ocky Rot.

Remus, Peter and Sirius continued to pester James while the rest watched on, amused, but Lily was biting her lip, nervous as what Potter might say when pushed.

Suddenly, she stood and shouted, "Guys, stop!" Everyone shut up and she was centre of attention, somewhere she was not very often and certainly did not enjoy being. "Potter just took me home, okay? I had been in the Leaky Cauldron with a firewhiskey or two for a few hours too many and so he took me home so I didn't splinch myself."

The last thing she wanted to do was explain why she had been drinking and so Lily was thankful when Marlene stood at that point and said, "Come on then, Lovely Lily, let's see you down some firewhiskey. Hey, that almost rhymes!" Her best friend had effortlessly diverted the attention from _why_ Lily was drinking to _whether or not she could_ and, though she was not keen on the idea, the witch was still grateful for the diversion.

A shy smile broke across Lily's lips as she said, "Go on then, chuck me a bottle." She caught the Ogden's thrown at her and unscrewed the lid, licking her lips in preparation. Then she pressed the glass to them and took a good two gulps before pulling away and gasping as the golden liquid burned down her throat. Cheers erupted around her as she passed the bottle to Marley who did the same as Lily sat back on the floor, hoping to fade back into the background.

* * *

After many laughs and even more drinking, the group drifted off to sleep in the early hours of the morning, summoning blankets and pillows and settling down. Just as Sirius' eyes were about to close, he heard a voice beside him calling his name.

"Padfoot. Pads! Padfoot!" the harsh whisper of his best friend called. "We need to talk about the will."

Both James and Sirius had, by this point, consumed considerable amounts of alcohol that even they were struggling to keep clear heads. "Shu'up, Prongs," groaned Sirius, "'Morro'. Talk 'morro'" With that, the wizard rolled over and was asleep before you could say 'firewhiskey', leaving James alone with his thoughts.

His best friend had, over night, become relatively well off. The girl he had convinced himself he was going to get over was sleeping in his house, mere feet away from him. To make things that much worse, the day before he had overheard his father saying something about unexplained disappearances that were being kept out of the _Prophet_ to his mother. Everything was changing around him and he was still not totally sure if all of the changes were for the better or the worst.

* * *

In the morning, the friends ate breakfast in the Potter's dining room – a high ceilinged room with wooden panelling to match the rest of the house. The thing that Lily loved the most, however, was the stucco ceiling decorated with fleurs-de-lis. She found it absolutely enchanting.

Frank and Alice had departed early, just grabbing some toast and heading off, because the former needed to get back to Auror Training. In just two short weeks, it would be all over and he would be a fully qualified Auror so both were greatly looking forward to that.

Out of the nine still in the Potter's house, there was only one Lily was interested in talking to, but he and the other resident of the house were mysteriously absent. Lily was still puzzling over her what was happening between her and Potter. Were they friends? Were they taking an argument hiatus? Was this just another one of his schemes to get her to be one of the girls who worship the ground he walks on?

However, instead of eating scotch pancakes and toast with their friends, James and Sirius were in the kitchen not too far from the dining room, sat on the work surfaces in deep conversation.

"You do realise what my inheritance means, right?"

"It means you meant a lot to your uncle. He appreciated all the care you took over him," James said, hoping that was the answer and not wanting to hear the real one.

"No. Well, yes, but it also means I don't have to rely on you and your family anymore. I've been leeching off your kindness and generosity for too long." It was the answer James knew was coming but he still hated it.

"You know we don't mind and Mum loves you. You're practically family, so don't think like that."

"Prongs, I'm going to look for a flat over the next week or so. I want to move in before we go to the Hollow."

"What? Why are you rushing this, you don't want to do this now."

"Calm down, mate, it's okay. It's not like I'm leaving forever. Mum already said I could come for Sunday lunch and Moony and Wormy are around all the time anyway so it'll just be like it is with them."

He had only properly lived with the Potters for a year – meaning only for last summer and Christmas – but Sirius had truly become part of the family. But still, he needed his own place, somewhere in the world to call his own. He just needed the independence.

"You mean you told my _mother_ before _me_?!" James was getting more and more upset with each thing his best friend said. Having lived his younger life growing up alone, having Sirius with him in his own home 24/7, while to some he would be a pain, to James it was like heaven. They could do whatever they wanted every single day and it was great. Admittedly, not much would change with Sirius not actually living in the house, but it would be different. James did not like this kind of different.

"Well, yeah, we were both up early and she asked about the reading of the will and-"

James interrupted with, "I can't believe this," and left the room, dragging a hand through his already sleep mussed hair. Frustrated and annoyed, he was barely looking where he was going when he walked into a blur of red.

Lily had been leaving the dining room to find the bathroom when James practically mowed her down. She stumbled but regained her balance on her own. "Sorry, Potter," the witch said politely. "Hey, where's the bathroom in this place?"

Not in the mood for directions, or anyone or anything, in fact, just walked away, storming up to his bedroom.

"Okay then," Lily muttered, confused by the reaction. Maybe that was the explanation she had been looking for. He had invited her out of politeness and the invitation was no longer extended. "Arrogant prat, you could have at just said," she whispered, shaking her head to herself before heading back to the den to get her things and tell Marlene she was going home. She had had just enough of James Potter for the week… _and_ the summer.

* * *

And so the next few weeks of summer passed in a haze of witches and wizards in and out of Potter Manor and Lily finding numerous ways to avoid both her own house _and_ the Potters'. It was a mean feat but she had just about managed to avoid a certain wizard successfully for the majority of it.

James, upset at his best friend's keenness to move out, tried not to show how he felt. Not wanting to spoil what could be his last few weeks living with Sirius. The pair hung out as normal and the other two Marauders came over frequently and everything seemed fine, but below the surface there was tension - tension that was heightened on a particular summer day when Sirius decided to raise the discussion of a _very_ particular redhead.

"Prongs, you never did tell us what was going on with the Oh-So-Lovely Lily. Don't think we've forgotten," he said with a smirk as the four wizards grabbed broomsticks from the den and headed out into one of the fields surrounding Potter Manor in which Mr Potter had built goal posts when James was younger.

"Yeah, what happened to the Prongs that said, and I quote, 'She hasn't fallen for my devilish charms and ravishing smile so she's clearly not worth wasting them on'?" Remus added with a smirk as he strode ahead.

Peter jumped in then, adding, "But why would he want to get over her, guys, I mean Lily is attractive, right?" The other two boys rolled their eyes at Wormtail's classic stating-the-obvious statement.

James shook his head at his friends. "The thing you are failing to realise here, lads, is that I am over the _Oh-So-Lovely_ Miss Evans," and with that he mounted his brand new Nimbus 1500 and kicked off the ground, ruffling his hair and muttering as he flew away, "and completely ruined what little friendship we may have had."

Completely ashamed of his actions the day after Alphard's funeral, James had frequently tried to write to Evans, hoping he could patch up the mess he had made. Every time James wrote, he ended up crumpling up the parchment and throwing it away – he sounded too desperate, or it seemed more than it was. He just could not get happy with what he was writing so eventually he gave up. At least she was not spending the summer alone, hiding form her sister. The girls would look after her, James knew that.

* * *

During the weeks following the funeral, Lily had managed to find a way to please just about everyone; a talent that she thrived off of. On the days she was staying at home, she would have breakfast with her parents, taking the time to enjoy their company before scooting out of the house before Petunia could say anything about her presence. Her days she would spend with Marley or Mary or Dee or Alice or anyone really who was around – Lily even spent a day with Remus Lupin at one point when she had bumped into him in Diagon Alley – or if her friends were busy, she would spend her time doing school work and reading novels in the café which resided in her favourite place in Cokeworth – Mr Brocklehurst's Book Shop – which meant she did not have to intrude on their plans.

All in all, Lily had had a relatively pleasant few weeks. To make things even better, she had successfully avoided James Potter and his odd moods. There had been a few times when it was a close call - she had spotted him just in the nick of time so she could duck into an open shop or alleyway. The girls had thought Lily was going insane, but she did not care, she just did not want to see the bloke.

On one particular summer day, Lily was sat beneath an oak tree reading_ Jane Eyre_ for the _nineteen-billionth_ time in the park not far from her house – the furthest tree, you must note, she could find from the area where she and Snape had once hung out. That was exactly where and what Lily Evans was doing at the precise moment when aforementioned Severus Snape appeared in directly in front of her, casting a shadow across her and blocking her sunlight.

Upon seeing the wizard, Lily jumped up and grabbed her things, ready for a nifty escape should it be required. All sorts of thoughts ran through her head. She had not seen him all summer, although they lived in the same town, so why was he suddenly, clearly, seeking her out now.

"What do you want, Snape?" Lily said, annoyed that anyone, let alone him, would dare intrude on her peace.

"To talk. Listen, Lily, I never meant–"

"– I don't want to hear it, Sev," the witch snapped. "It doesn't matter what you may or may not have meant to do. It happened and it's over. We are over. We have no friendship, and to be honest, I wish I had realised who you truly were sooner."

Snape looked taken aback by her blunt and scathing remark. He had never put Lily down for cruel, so clearly something or some_one_ had changed her. Those _Gryffindors_ must have done something to her, put thoughts in her head.

As Snape immediately tried to blame anyone but himself, Lily had taken out her wand and was holding it in front of her, fear in her eyes, slowly backing away. It was at that point that the Slytherin realised he was gripping his own wand so hard that his knuckles were turning white.

He just had time to stutter out a, "No, Lily, it's not–", before she turned on the spot and disappeared in front of his eyes. "Shit."

* * *

With nowhere else to go in that precise moment of panic, Lily disapparated without thought to where she was headed and only realised upon arrival which particular house, or mansion in this case, had come to mind. However, that was not the only thing that she realised upon arrival.

A sharp shot of pain travelled through her body when she tried to move that made her cry out in pain. Lily did not understand what she could have possibly landed on that would hurt her that badly, unless… unless she had been splinched. She dared not look, scared of what she would find, but she had to try and ignore the pain to move. She _had_ to get out of there. She did _not_ want to see him.

Him being James Potter, of course.

Being splinched, however, meant Lily could not apparate without causing more damage by splinching herself again and, _of course_, James-_bloody_-Potter had to live in the middle of nowhere. She could not get out of there.

Trying to move only caused her more pain and another scream escaped the witch's lips, this time loader than the first. Her wand. She needed her wand. Maybe that would help.

Unfortunately for Lily, it was just not her day. Though the first scream went unheard, the second drew the attention of the four wizards flying around not too far from where Miss Evans had landed.

"What was that?" Moony was the first to ask the question, his hearing amplified by his werewolf genes.

"What was what?" Wormtail chimed in, still concentrating on trying to get past Prongs and to the goal hoops.

"I heard it too, someone screamed, that direction," Padfoot motioned towards a point between where they were and the Manor.

Before anyone else had a chance to say anything, Prongs turned his broom almost vertically downwards headed towards the spot where his best friend had pointed. The other Marauders followed behind, Sirius copying James' move while the other two, non-quidditch players, went for a more careful approach.

Up until the point that a small black dot started flying exceedingly quickly toward her, Lily had not noticed the Marauders playing quidditch. However, as soon as she saw them heading towards her, she cursed and tried to drag herself away and hide. The sharp pain wracked her body again and she tried her best to muffle it, but failed.

She wanted to cry. The pain was starting to overwhelm her and she knew if she was not found, there was a chance it could be irreparable, so instead of fighting it, Lily just lay and waited, the tears rolling down her face.

Naturally, Potter was first on the scene, with Black not far behind. "_Evans_? What are you– oh, _bloody hell_, what _happened_ to you?" Shock and then fear registered in James' face as he saw the blood soaking through her torn jeans. She tried to speak but all that came out of her mouth were groans and winces of pain. He turned to his friend, saying, "Pads, get to the house and find Mum, then a blanket and prepare somewhere for me to put her. _Go_!"

Nervously, James ran a hand through his wind-tousled hair, dumping his broom on the floor and moving to pick up Lily. She winced at his touch and refused to look at him he picked her up and carried her to the house, as carefully and quickly as he could manage.

Remus and Peter, seeing James heading toward the house in the distance, picked up his broom and Lily's bag, which had also been left at the scene, remounted their brooms and flew back to the Manor.

* * *

Somewhere between being picked up by James Potter and arriving at Potter Manor, Lily passed out. By the time she woke up, the pain was gone, or so she thought. She certainly could not feel anything in her legs, or any part of her for that matter. However, she could hear muttering around her and figured by the comfort and duvet over her that she had been moved onto a bed.

"Did her finger just twitch? I could have sworn her finger moved," a female voice said from beside her.

"Maybe, I don't know," said a male one in the same direction as the first.

"I can't believe she managed to get herself splinched. _Lily Evans_ splinched?! She was the first in our year to successfully apparate! Thank Merlin you got to her, Prongs," another male voice chimed in.

Keeping her eyes shut to listen to the conversation, Lily tried to keep her breathing as even as possible so as not to alert her friends of her consciousness. She was glad Marlene had come, though; maybe she could avoid any conversation with Potter if she was there.

"Do you think it hurt?" A second female voice spoke up, shooting Lily's plan in the foot as she snorted loudly, turning all the heads (which had snapped to Mary at her question) back to the witch lying in bed. However, the snort caused a twinge of pain to shoot up her leg and she winced as she opened her eyes.

"I told you she was awake," exclaimed Marlene, who quickly moved closer to Lily and took her hand. "Hey there, Lil, you feeling any better? Can I get you anything?" And then the interrogation began.

"How did you do it?"

"What happened?"

"Why did you come _here_?"

"What were you thinking?"

"Do you know how much blood you lost?"

"You're lucky you still have your leg."

"What happened?"

"CHILDREN! Leave the girl alone," Mrs Potter entered the room and went straight over to Lily with a glass of water and a straw. She placed the straw in the younger witch's mouth and let her drink. "Feeling better?" Andrea asked when she was done.

"Yeah," was all Lily could croak out, her throat still slightly dry. She had no idea how long she had been out and it was clear that, though she was numb, the pain was still there.

"Okay, well, I've sent an owl to your parents to tell them you'll be staying here for a few days or maybe longer, depending on how long it takes until you're strong enough. I don't want you travelling like this."

Any colour Lily had regained completely drained out of her face. Not only had an owl been sent to her house, Merlin knows she would have an earful from her sister if, God forbid, the neighbours saw, or even worse, Vernon had been there. Furthermore, she would be staying for, possibly, a week in the same house as James Potter, aka mood-swinging-former-slash-current-feuding-buddy-b ut-also-saviour-of-her-life. To say their relationship had become complicated was an understatement.

Lily tried to nod, saying she had heard what Mrs Potter had said, but even the tiniest movement of her body hurt, so she muttered an, "okay," through her wince of pain.

The older witch turned around then to Lily's friends and glared, specifically at her sons. "Right you lot, out. I want Lily to have some rest. She doesn't need you lot crowding around her. You're all allowed to stay the night and/or come back tomorrow to see her but for tonight, she needs rest. Leave her be." With that, Mrs Potter ushered everyone out and left Lily alone again.

* * *

"Evans? _Evans_?! _**Lily**_? Lil, come on, stay with me! Fuck, _come on, Evans_!" James shook the limp figure in his arms, the blood coming from, he assumed, her leg, completely soaking her jeans. She cannot just pass out. Not with this much blood loss. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He ran to the house now, too scared to only power walk. His mother was there to greet him, and led him into the nearest room where Sirius was waiting by the sofa with a blanket. "She just lost consciousness," James said as his mother began shouting orders to anyone who would listen and cutting off the girl's jeans. Immediately, both Potters realised Lily had been splinched and started to work on that, James applying dittany to the wounds while his mother cast a numbing charm on her body and dribbling some dreamless sleep potion in her mouth to stop her coming to while they were working.

Once they had done all they could and moved the girl to a bedroom, Mrs Potter contacted the Evans' and the Marauders went to get Mary and Marlene but James never left Lily's side. The whole time, panicking that she may never wake up… and she did not.

That was the moment the wizard began realising something was wrong. He could have sworn he had a memory of Lily waking and speaking to his mother, but now she had just been pronounced dead. People were planning the funeral. This was not right. He tried to tell someone but nobody was listening to him.

* * *

James awoke with a start, sweat dripping down his forehead and breathing heavily. It was only a dream. Lily really had woken up. She was okay. She would recover. Everything was going to be okay.

Maybe he should just check on her…

Getting out of bed, James tiptoed out of his bedroom and down the corridor. She was in a bedroom on the first floor, just below his own, and the wizard pushed open the door soundlessly.

Lily was sound asleep, but James could tell that she was definitely breathing. From the doorway her could clearly see her chest rising and falling in the nightdress his mother had put on her, having ruined the only clothes she had. With a relieved smile, he shut the door again and headed back to his room and back to sleep.

* * *

The next day, Lily woke to her own clothes at the bottom of the large, fluffy bed in the Potters' house and _Jane Eyre_ beside her. Soon she was surrounded by her friends, all of whom where anxious to make sure she was okay. Marley said she had been to see her parents to get some of her things and even found her book among the things recovered from where she apparated to outside. Lily thanked her and was once again subjected to questioning from everyone present.

As she began to answer, the witch noted an absence. Potter was not there. Mary, Marlene, Remus, Peter and even Sirius were all there, but not Potter. She tried, but struggled, to ignore his (very loud) absence.

"Snape confronted me and I needed to get away quickly. I wasn't concentrating," Lily answered the 'how did it happen' that was going through everyone's minds.

"Snivellus. He'll pay," muttered Sirius, which gained a glare from Lily. She was okay and she did not want anyone else getting hurt at the hand of that bastard.

"I don't even know how I ended up here. I didn't realise I even had a destination until I arrived," the girl answered the next question thrown at her – 'why here?'

After answering every question her friend's had, her stomach rumbled rather loudly and within a flash, Lily had pancakes and pumpkin juice in front of her. She had to admit, the food was amazing, as was the service, but both being the centre of attention and in James Potter's house were not quite so ideal.

* * *

The next week passed in a blur, with Lily eventually being able to stand, wash herself without assistance, and even shuffle around with a walking stick. It was still painful, but she took a draught everyday that helped and she was definitely getting stronger.

She had also successfully avoided Potter for most of the time. There had been one awkward moment when she had been coming back from the shower and James had almost knocked her over coming from his parents' room that was on the same floor. He apologised profusely, unlike last time he almost took her out, and went on his way, but there was a lingering concern in his eyes that she was not sure why he had.

He did not care about her, remember? He was probably getting annoyed that she was in his house so much again. If it was not for Mrs Potter, Lily was sure he would have chucked her out again.

Mary and Marlene popped in every so often, obviously not able to stay the whole time, and cheered her up. They brought her books and sweets and all sorts to make her feel better, and it did work.

One person who had really surprised her in the week she had been at the Potters was Sirius. He came and sat with her pretty much every day, keeping her updated on what was going on with all her friends. They would laugh together as he told her about the ditzy things Mary had gotten up to or the silly mistakes Peter had made when trying to set off a load of dungbombs and ended up getting himself covered. Lily was delighted for him when he told her that he had found the perfect flat to buy with the money his uncle had left him and he asked about all of her get well cards and gifts from friends.

It was sweet really, how much he seemed to care. It was nice. Lily and Sirius had never been particularly close, especially with him being one of the top troublemakers and Lily a prefect, but they had always gotten along better than, say James. But now there was something more. They were friends. He made her laugh and she was a good listening ear, especially with James still not wanting to hear about his plans to move out.

If one good thing had come out of Lily being splinched, it was her newfound friendship with Sirius Black.

* * *

**A/N: And so there is chapter four! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have something or someone or anything at all that you want to see more of, just let me know in the reviews.**

**Thank you to all of my wonderful friends online who have encouraged me and inspired me. I owe you all so much and you are fabulous people for dealing with my rantings day in day out. ****Special thank you to Little Red who deals with my texts day and night about my doubt and concerns and I am forever grateful for her _blind faith_ in me.**

**Reviews are like chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts :)**

**xoxo Andromache**


	6. Chapter 5: Concerts and Close Calls

**A/N: Before reading this chapter, it is necessary for you to have read the Harry Potter Prequel. If you have not done so, you can read it on Mugglenet (google search 'Harry Potter Prequel')**

**Disclaimer: **_I am not JK Rowling and all characters are hers etc etc. Pretty sure you know how this goes. _

* * *

**Chapter Five****  
Concerts and Close Calls**

* * *

Just over a week after being splinched, Mrs Potter believed Lily had recovered enough to be taken home by side-along apparition. She did, however, insist that James take her, due to the fact he had been before and had a clearer image destination to reduce the risk of further damage to the girl.

Reluctant, but in desperate need of going home, Lily agreed and so she packed up her things and headed back to Cokeworth. She said goodbye to Potter and left him watching her hobble back into her house, still worried about her, especially as she entered the house with her horrible sister.

There were only a few weeks left of summer, two of which would be spent in Godric's Hollow, so when James arrived back at his house to find Sirius packing his things, his face fell. Since Alphard's funeral, both parties had skirted around the topic of moving out expertly, but it seemed the day had come when it could be avoided no longer.

"Prongs," Sirius stopped what he was doing, noticing his friend at the doorway of his room. "Listen, I'm sorry, but I just need my own space, y'know, and now I have the chance to do that."

James nodded solemnly and turned to enter his own bedroom opposite. "Hey, Prongs," Sirius called out again, this time a smirk lighting up his face, "I have a moving out present for you, well, for us."

At that, the other wizard turned back, confused, "What?"

Sirius, who clearly could not contain his excitement, ran out of the room past his friend and practically jumped down two flights of stairs. James followed apprehensively, picking up to a jog in order to keep up with Padfoot. The wizard had stopped in the den, by the door that went out into the fields, and was standing right beside what seemed to be some kind of transportation machine. James was sure that if he had not taken Muggle Studies in third year, he would not have been able to recognise it as a motorcycle.

"It's a… an autocycle. No, a cyclemotor… damn, no, that's not it… Umm, well it's a mug–"

"I think the word your looking for it motorcycle, Pads. It's a motorcycle," James interrupted with a chuckle.

"Yeah, well, I thought we could keep it here, y'know, do it up and give it _special features_," Sirius lowered his voice for the last part. "It would mean I'd have to come back here to help even though I'm living elsewhere. What do you think? Up for the challenge?"

James laughed again with a smile starting to spread across his face as the tension eased between the two, "Yeah, I'm up for it."

It may have been the end of an era for the boys, having Sirius move out, but at least he was going out with a bang.

* * *

Lily was lucky to be alive, and that is completely ignoring the fact that she had gotten splinched and lost enough blood to pass out. Having an owl fly straight through the Evans' kitchen window in the middle of the afternoon and drop a letter on the kitchen table was, in Petunia's opinion, the most abnormal thing that could possibly happen, and Lily had not heard anything but 'what the neighbours must have thought' since she arrived home. It was just her luck that Tuney had been home when Mrs Potter had sent the owl to her parents. Fortunately, Vernon had not been present at the time so it could have been worse.

Taking it easy and not wanting to worsen her leg, Lily resided mainly in her bedroom and only went for a short walk in order to exercise it. She was still using the stick that Mrs Potter had transfigured for her, but the witch could now walk short distances without it.

Lily was sat on her bed with her leg propped up on pillows doing some additional reading on Egyptian spellwork for Ancient Studies when Athena flew straight threw her open window, dropping a letter on Lily's lap as she went. Immediately, the witch recognised the handwriting to be Mary's and tore open the parchment.

_5__th__ August 1977_

_Dear Lils,_

_How are you? I hope your leg is feeling a bit better and it doesn't hurt you too much. I wish we were allowed in your house; I would love to cheer you up. _

_I've started doing my summer work and I can't for the life of me understand Charms. What is the use of a Protean Charm? It seems completely pointless to me, I mean, why would you want loads of objects linked? Uh, I'm going to fail my N.E.W.T., I can see it now. I was doing so well in keeping steady Acceptables in Charms too! Help me, oh, Charms Goddess!_

_Anyway, I got a letter from one Mr James Potter earlier saying we're invited to his family's holiday home for a day or something. If you haven't had a letter from him, I'm sure it's on the way. It'll explain everything. Apparently, _The Snidgets_ are playing at an underground pub nearby and they thought it'd be fun if we all went. I hope you can come and you're leg improves by then._

_Get well, girl,_

_Mary xx _

Lily sighed deeply, pondering the letter. Despite spending a week in his home, the situation between her and Potter had not been made any clearer. One minute they were amiable and the next he did not want her anywhere near him. Why on earth was he suddenly inviting her to his house again? Maybe because he was inviting everyone and it would seem odd if he did not invite her. He was being fair, that was all. If she was well enough to go, Lily would stay out of his way as much as possible.

* * *

James had sent out letters to his friends about _The Snidgets'_ concert but paused before sending one to Lily. It was only fair that he invite her as they shared a friendship group and everyone else was going. Besides, he did not want to leave her in that horrible town alone with Snivellus moping about. Merlin, he was going to get that slimeball for what he did to her.

Having Lily around had become a huge problem. After that first night of having her in his house, James had made a habit of sneaking down to see if she was okay when he could be sure she was fast asleep. He knew he had told himself to get over her – she had rejected him enough times – but he just could not let her go. The years had passed, James had dated other girls, even slept with other girls, but they had meant nothing to him and made him feel terribly guilty.

At the start of summer he had told himself again that he would move on, but then she was there in the Leaky Cauldron and he just could not _not_ help her. Since then, Lily had been everywhere he went. James had even invited her places and he realised that he would never let go.

Either he would get the girl, or he would not, but he was not going to stop trying.

With that thought in mind, he gave the letter to Carrington, his parents' owl, and he flew off to deliver it.

Turning away from the window, James went back to look at the motorcycle Sirius had brought home_. This would be their crowning glory_, he thought proudly.

* * *

James and Sirius spent the next few days splitting their time between working on the motorcycle and moving Sirius' things into his flat, which was located above Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley. It had been expensive in such a prime spot, but in the wizard's opinion, it was absolutely perfect.

Even James could see upsides of having that place around. If The Marauders got completely trashed in the Cauldron, they could sleep it off at Sirius' place instead of apparating home and risking a splinching.

By the time Thomas Potter arrived home on the eve of the two-week trip to Godric's Hollow, the motorcycle had been enchanted, charmed, and transfigured in just about every which way.

The seat was ten times more comfortable than possible and far large than it looked, the maximum speed had been upped by at least a hundred miles per hour and other little tweaks here and there. However, the thing the two wizards were most proud of was that the motorcycle could fly.

While incredibly proud of their creation, both James and Sirius were perfectly aware of the repercussions should anyone find out about the bike, but they still needed to take it to Godric's Hollow. Plus, they needed to take it on a test drive.

* * *

In the dead of night, Padfoot and Prongs snuck out of their bedrooms, smirks on their faces, and headed down to the den where the motorcycle was waiting outside, covered with a disillusionment charm.

Casting a quick soundproofing charm so Mr and Mrs Potter would not wake up, Sirius kick-started the large engine as James jumped on behind him, both stupidly excited. The roar of life made them both grin as they started to rumble along the field.

Perhaps trying to take off immediately was both foolish and arrogant for the young wizards. Presuming that their strong flying enchantment would work, although they had spent the best part of a week on it, was quite a big ask especially for barely legal wizards. However, James Potter and Sirius Black were not ordinary students at Hogwarts. These were two wizards who had illegally become animagi at the age of fifteen, these were a pair of the most talented seventeen year old wizards that had even been, even if they mainly used their talents for mischief.

After a short run up in order to build speed and power, Sirius lifted the controls and the motorcycle took off from the ground, soaring over the quidditch hoops and off into the night.

* * *

The journey from Worcestershire to Somerset would have taken far longer had the bike not had enhanced speeds or been able to fly. Sirius had no idea how muggles had the patience to travel so slowly along those long roads in completely odd directions from their destination. They must have so much unnecessary time on their hands to waste it in such a way.

Occasionally, the pair would sneak down on a clear patch of road just to trundle along as muggles did. James found it amusing while Sirius just got bored and took off again.

Eventually, the wizards reached Godric's Hollow and parked up the motorcycle in the small garden, casting another disillusionment charm over it. The boys sighed, proud of their escapade but now quite tired, especially as it was nearing dawn in just another few hours.

However, instead of going home like they _should_ have, James and Sirius decided it would be a good idea to have a drink in a muggle pub. Wanting to get away from the Hollow, where people might have recognised them, James decided it would be best if they went to the next town over.

That was where it happened.

The pair waltzed into the quiet place, surprised to see so few people. Wizarding establishments were usually relatively busy all day and night but it seemed muggles were not quite so lively at half past three in the morning. There were a few drunkards at the bar and some shadowy figures in the corner but other than them and the barmaid, the place was empty.

The woman sighed as James and Sirius headed for the bar; she had been hoping to close up soon. If few enough people were there, the landlord allowed her to chuck them out and go on her way, but now these two youngens had arrived, she had to stay.

"All righ' m'lovers," the barmaid said as James and Sirius approached the bar, "wha' can I ge' yeh?" The boys would have struggled far more with the woman's rich Somerset twang had they not been used to Hagrid's accent. They spent a minute looking at all the bottles behind the bar, most of which meant nothing to them – what in the name of Merlin's baggy y-fronts was _Pimm's_?

When James and Sirius did not answer, the woman spoke up again, "Well, are y'avin' a drink or no, 'cause I'd like to go 'ome if yeh not."

"Uh, yeah, sorry. We'll just have two of those," James said, pointing a sign that said something about ale and was called Northgate, hoping that made them seem slightly more normal.

As the woman poured the beers, James turned to Sirius frantically having realised they were missing something vital for this to go well, "Pads, I have no muggle money."

"Shit," Sirius cursed under his breath. "Maybe we could put it on a tab and then run?"

"That's our only chance," the other wizard whispered back. James felt exceptionally guilty about what they had to do but he really could not see another way around it. The barmaid then handed over their pints and they asked for it to be put on a tab and went to sit in the corner, looking around the pub.

After a few minutes of sitting and nursing their pints, enjoying trying something different, James began to feel a prickling on the back of his neck. It was never a good sign when that started to happen and so he ran his hand nervously through his hair. Looking around, the drunkards at the bar were transfixed with the barmaid and she certainly was not looking their way. It seemed the boys had caught the attention of the shadowy figures sat on the opposite side of the low-ceilinged room.

"I think the blokes over there in the shadows are watching us," James said calmly to Sirius, trying not to show that he was aware they were being watched. From what he could see, the men were wearing all black with hoods on their heads covering their faces from the dim light of the pub. He took another sip of his beer, desperately hoping they had not absent-mindedly walked into trouble.

That was when he saw it.

As he sipped his drink, a flash of movement from the figures caused James to look and just at the last second he spotted a wand seconds before it flashed. It gave him enough time to push over the table and shove Padfoot to the floor before they were hit with some fluorescent yellow spell that neither wizard recognised. The barmaid screamed and ducked below the bar, and the other muggles followed her lead, running for cover.

Now, as James peeked around the side of the table he could see clearly underneath the hood of both figures, showing a silvery mask with snake-like slits so they could see: Death Eaters. One was advancing on the table in which James and Sirius were hiding while the other headed for the muggles. So this is how people were disappearing.

"Ready, Padfoot?" James asked, sitting on his haunches with his wand at the ready.

"As I'll ever be," Sirius replied in a similar stance. The pair then jumped up suddenly, non-verbally stupefying the first Death Eater who had almost approached him. The power of the doubled spell sent the wizard flying back to the corner he had come from and causing his friend to turn from the muggles and onto them.

"Run! Get out of here!" James shouted to the muggles as he blasted the door open and Sirius began duelling the second Death Eater. James turned to help once the people were safe, just dodging what looked to be a killing curse in the nick of time. Together, the boys managed to immobilise the wizard long enough for them both to run out and disapparate back to Potter Manor.

Both heaving and out of breath, James and Sirius arrived back at home just as the sun was breaking over the horizon.

"That was close," muttered Sirius.

"Tell me about it," James retorted with a chuckle. Soon Sirius joined in and the pair of them were laughing away their near death experience and close encounter. The underlying message remained and no amount of laughter could shake that off; the world was no longer safe. Not for anyone.

* * *

After a few hours of sleep, Sirius, James and his parents flooed to the little cottage in Godric's Hollow. Remus met them there and the three wizards headed out into the village and settled skimming stones into the duck pond. There, Sirius and James retold the tale of the night before.

"I knew things had to be worse than they seemed," Remus muttered, before launching into one of his speeches, "I could have sworn this summer was supposed to be far more disastrous than it was turning out to be and now we find out that, actually, it was and no one even knew. We have a basic human right to know what turmoil is unfolding in our world and I don't think it right that Minister Fawley is leaning on the Prophet because she's too scared to do anything about it."

While James and Sirius agreed with him, they had listened to enough of their friend's rants about Fawley and how inept she was a running the wizarding world. But it was true; something had to be done about it. The ministry was becoming corrupt and who could trust a power too weak to stand up to the very people who were destroying the world we live in.

"Can we maybe put it behind us, at least for the next two weeks and just be alert more than usual?" This was the only two weeks of the year when James and his family got to step out of the spotlight of wizarding society and just be normal. He wanted to enjoy it, not spend it thinking about how the world was crumbling around them.

The boys nodded in agreement and the three of them went back to skimming.

* * *

Just two days after arriving at the Hollow, Marlene, Mary and Lily turned up. Peter had been carted off to France with his parents and so was missing out on seeing _The Snidgets_.

Minutes before the six Gryffindors were about to depart for the concert, Sirius took James aside before the pair returned, both grinning like fools.

"We have something to show you," the wizards said at the same time and Remus sighed deeply, rolling his eyes, having guessed exactly what was going on. Then Mary and Marlene followed eagerly while Lily apprehensively walked behind them.

"Do you know what they're planning, Lupin?" Remus merely nodded in acknowledgement, "Do I want to know what they're planning?"

This time Remus laughed, "Definitely not."

By the time everyone was in the garden, bar James' parents who had gone out for a romantic meal, the motorcycle was on full display, disillusionment charm lifted.

Lily, as Remus had moments before, sighed deeply, "I really do _not_ want to know what possible use you could have for a muggle motorcycle, do I?"

"Probably not," replied James, a smirk spreading across his face like Dragon Pox spread across the body; quickly and with high irritation, "but you may also want to apparate to the concert, because we're going on this."

"We can all fit on it?" Marley asked, Sirius nodded in reply, clearly unable to wipe the smirk off his face as he climbed on the bike. The witch climbed on behind him and motioned for Mary to do the same. The seat had been expanded to hold either a half-giant or at least five people!

"I'll apparate with Lily," Remus said to the guys, knowing as well as everybody else that the girl could not possibly condone the misuse of muggle artefacts so openly.

With a swift nod from James, Sirius kick-started the thing and hoped there was enough room for a run-up in the small garden. They picked up speed and, before Lily could blink, were off into the sky.

"IT _FLIES_?!" the witch screamed at Remus, "AND YOU _LET_ THEM FLY IT?"

"Come on now, Lily, you know I can't even control those two." With that, Remus took her hand and apparated to the underground wizarding bar where the band were playing and waited for the others to arrive.

* * *

Remus and Lily had been catching up over a drink while waiting. They had talked about the holidays, their schoolwork, who they thought the new fifth year prefects would be and, by the time Mary stumbled into the bar leaning on Marlene for support, they had exhausted every topic.

The four who had taken the bike headed for the table Remus and Lily had snagged near the stage and sat down. Lily was the first to speak, "What did you do to Mare?"

Sirius shrugged, James bit his lip and shrugged too, while Marley sighed and rolled her eyes. "It wasn't… their fault," Mary spoke up. "I just didn't realise quite how high we would go. Gave me a shock and I nearly slipped, but that's all."

"I'll put in some kind of security or something," Sirius said when Lily glared at him. Everyone knew he never would, but still. No one was hurt, just a little shocked, so what was the problem?

* * *

_The Snidgets_ were brilliant. Lily could not believe just how much she could enjoy herself at a concert. The rush when the band came on, the feeling of joy that filled her chest when her favourite song was played, the moment when the lead singer touched her hand and smiled at her, the fun she had dancing with the girls and singing along less than tunefully. It was incredible.

After the show, everyone bought t-shirts emblazoned with a large gold Snidget in the centre. James and Sirius put theirs on straight away, ripping off their tops in the middle of the bar. Admittedly, it was not an unpleasant sight, but completely unnecessary.

As the group headed for the door, James felt the strange prickling sensation again and stopped dead, tapping Sirius as he did. "They're here," he said before turning around and scanning the bar.

"Guys, you apparate back, we'll be right behind with the bike," Sirius called after the others. Remus stopped and looked curiously at his friends, Padfoot shook his head, "Just look after the girls, okay?"

"There," James said, nodding toward two hooded figures sat not far from where the group had been.

Sirius looked in the direction and sighed, "Damn." But then a smirk started to play across his lips as he looked at James, "Let's see just how fast my baby can go, shall we?"

James grinned and the pair left the bar, jumping on the bike and setting off. Sirius guided the bike over buildings and through tunnels trying to outrun the figures that had now acquired brooms, while James looked behind noting where the pursuers were.

After about half an hour, James had lost sight of the Death Eaters and told Sirius to go onto the empty motorway that was just below them and start heading back towards Godric's Hollow. It was along that very motorway that Avon and Somerset's finest recorded a whopping two hundred and ten miles per hour – a speed which should not have been possible on an ordinary motorcycle.

And the chase began.

They could not fly and they certainly could not be stopped by the muggle police, James groaned thinking they were doomed. Just when things could not get worse, the wizards spotted the Death Eaters again a bit further behind.

"Great, now we have to lose two sets of pursuers," James muttered, frustrated at the situation they had managed to get themselves into.

Sirius was just turning off the motorway and into some town when he grinned wickedly, "Or maybe we could kill two Plimpies with one spell."

* * *

James and Sirius zoomed away into the night sky, their taillight twinkling behind them like a vanishing ruby. Laughter bubbled from their lips as they flew back to the cottage in Godric's Hollow, having successfully ridded themselves of both nuisances.

Thankful his parents trusted them enough to look after themselves and did not stay up, James and Sirius tiptoed back into the house and up to the bedroom where the boys were crashing for the night while the girls took the spare one.

Everyone was in the room waiting. Mary, Marlene and Lily were holding hands, confused and concerned, while Remus paced and bit his lip nervously. When the wizards burst through the door, still amused, the others sighed with relief. However, in Lily's case, the relief turned to annoyance very quickly.

"You're _laughing_?" She began incredulously, clearly building herself up to go on a full-scale rant. Quickly, Remus cast a sound proofing charm and Lily let rip, "I cannot _believe_ you two. Do you know how _long_ we've been waiting here? Hours. We have been waiting _hours_, completely unaware what was happening to you. I mean, Remus explained the other night; having guessed it was something to do with that so we knew vaguely what was happening. You could have been _killed_! We would never have known where you were. WHAT – WOULD – WE – HAVE – SAID – TO – YOUR – MOTHER? I just cannot _believe_ you two. We've been here worrying and then you come back in _bloody_ _fucking_ LAUGHING."

The witch growled, clearly fuming, wanting to curse the boys into next week. The speech had stunned them to silence, half-ashamed they had not thought about the others and half-still amused by the faces of the two muggle law enforcement men (what were they called?) as they had flown away.

"Lil, come on," Sirius started, trying to calm the girl down.

"No, don't you dare talk to me right now, Black, I am not in the mood." Lily stormed out and went into the bedroom opposite where she had to spend the night.

James turned to go after her, pausing only briefly when Marley called after him, "You may not want to do that," but he ignored her and followed anyway.

* * *

Entering the room, James saw Lily sat on one of the three beds, leaning her chin on the palm of her hand and biting her forefinger. "Evans?"

That was all he had to say for the floodgate to be open and every feeling of confusion about whatever was going on between them came crashing out of her lips.

"I just don't understand you, Potter. One minute we're at each other's throats and then all of a sudden you're _helping_ me get home and inviting me to your house, seeming like you _sincerely_ mean it! What are you _playing_ at? Then you _throw_ me out again as if nothing had changed. Now today! You invite me to a concert and then worry your own friends half to death? I just don't understand you at all. You're reckless and foolish and arrogant and I just cannot – keep – up – with – these – damn – mood – swings."

Lily looked away and shook her head. Was it worth trying to keep up with his mood swings?

"Evans… Lily," James corrected himself. _We have the same friends; we're in the same house, year, and classes. I just figured it was time to put the past behind us,_ he wanted to say, but he did not. "I… I don't know. I don't have an explanation." Then he left.

He could have tried to make amends but what good would that have done at that point. If he was going to get the girl, he could not keep pissing her off like this. He needed to be consistent. He needed to be a good example. But more than anything, he needed to get her to come to him.

* * *

Lily, Marlene and Mary left the morning after, one keener to get away than the others, and life trundled on as usual. However, just a few days later something arrived that was, for James, both a blessing and a curse.

That particular morning, he was early out of bed, eating toast at the kitchen counter while Remus and Sirius were still fast asleep and his parents in the dining room. Engrossed in the amount of marmalade he as putting on his toast, James did not notice a large pompous owl fly up to the window and begin to peck on the glass to be let in.

Allowing the bird entrance, it swooped in and dropped three letters on the counter before flying straight back out and away. The Hogwarts letters had arrived.

James flicked through the three, and picked out his own. It seemed heavier than usual which made the wizard curious. He had been Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain for the last two years; maybe they had thought it was time he had a new badge or perhaps they even thought he had lost it!

Opening the envelope, he pulled out his letter and supplies list. Then it fell. The heavy item inside the envelope slipped out and onto the floor and gleaming from the position where it landed was a shiny, purple, shield-shaped badge with a very obvious 'HB' emblazoned in golden letters.

HB.

Head Boy.

James was Head Boy.

He, James Thomas Potter, was Head Boy.

_How_? He was not even a prefect. Well, of course anyone could become Head Boy, not just Prefects, but the likelihood of that happening was so slim it was almost non-existent. And yet he, James Potter, had done it!

Was Dumbledore _completely_ off his rocker? James was part of the least discreet troublemaking gang in school – he was a Marauder, for Merlin's sake! Why on earth would he choose James over, well, Moony or Bones?! Or even that Hufflepuff Prefect… his name was something like Knotting or Bopping or, oh whatever. Oh, yes, Blotting, that was it.

There were plenty of acceptable candidates (obviously Snape was not included in the equation), so why on earth would Dumbledore choose _him_?

After the shock began to ebb away, the realisation began to kick in. He was going to have to follow rules. He had to be a good example. A good example! It was the perfect way to show Lily he could be a good example. He could follow rules. It would give her a chance to see him as a better person than he was two years ago.

Maybe it was a good thing. The only challenge now was telling Padfoot and Moony without them freaking.

Oh, Merlin.

* * *

Lily was frightfully excited when a broad, regal owl she had never seen before fluttered up to her window. At this time in the summer, it meant only one thing – her Hogwarts letter.

She loved going to Diagon Alley to buy all her new books, but this year her Hogwarts letter meant so much more. Lily had been vying for the position of Head Girl since her first year when a Ravenclaw by the name of Symposia Rawle had the position. Symposia had been a short witch, even smaller than Lily, which, at five foot six, the redhead thought was a mean feat. However, the Head Girl had been absolutely brilliant. Practically a genius, with extremely powerful magic to boot, the girl had it all. The way she seemed to float around the corridors elegantly like some kind of majestic being, made Lily gawk in awe and wonder. From that year, it had been her aim to be as wonderful a Head Girl as Symposia Rawle.

The only problem was that Lily was not graceful, nor was she a genius or powerful. She worked hard, but that was about all she had going for her. When she had gotten her Prefect badge in fifth year, she realised she was on her way to the Head Girl badge, but she was also perfectly aware of her competition.

So, when Lily opened her Hogwarts Letter, she tried not to raise her hopes. Admittedly, it was heavier than usual, but that meant nothing; for all she knew, Hogwarts admin could have been using thicker parchment or something. It was not until the glimmering 'HG' badge fell out of the envelope and into her hand that Lily started celebrating.

Finally, her day had come. She was the Head Girl. She had done it. That year was going to be the best at Hogwarts so far. At that point, she did not even care who was Head Boy, it could be Severus-_bloody_-Snape for all she cared (okay, over exaggeration), but at the time, Lily was just so happy that she did not have a care in the world.

* * *

**A/N: I'm starting to feel repetitive, but thank you so much to everyone who reads this, it really means the world to me. **

**Back to Hogwarts in the next chapter!**

**xoxo Andromache**


	7. Chapter 6: Unwelcome Welcomes

_**Disclaimer: **Blah blah blah, not JK Rowling, blah blah blah, characters are hers, blah blah blah no copyright infringement intended, blah blah blah_

* * *

**Chapter Six  
****Unwelcome Welcomes**

* * *

The final weeks of summer passed in a haze of last minute summer homework, supply-buying and trunk-packing. The Potters returned from Godric's Hollow and Sirius got fully settled into his London flat and the Marauders celebrated aptly. Lily continued to steal moments with her parents, who were both extremely happy for her, and disappear from the house whenever Petunia and her walrus were around. However, September 1st swung around faster than anyone imagined and before they knew it, everyone was heading back to school.

* * *

Lily Evans was never late. Ever. Well, that may be an overstatement as some situations which could make one late were often unavoidable. However, on this particular day, Lily Evans was running late.

Every year on September 1st, Lily, having packed the night before, would get dressed in muggle clothing, have breakfast, and make sure she was finding a compartment on the Hogwarts Express for her and her friends at exactly half past ten.

This year, her _final_ year, things were different.

Now that she was Head Girl, the redhead had planned to be on the platform at ten o'clock to watch over things; new first years arrivals and generally take in the atmosphere. However, her older sister had other ideas. Instead, Lily was still at her family home at quarter past ten listening to her sister's latest rant about how her _'abnormality'_ was destroying the family and how she had more or less single-handedly ruined the chance of Vernon proposing. Lily would have apparated to King's Cross long ago if Petunia hadn't taken her Head Girl badge to make sure she did not run away.

By sixteen minutes past, Lily had lost her patience. Her wand was drawn and the badge returned safely back to her own hands and pinned to her chest in seconds. With a defiant look to her sister, who was turning red with fury, the witch escaped the house and turned on the spot before reappearing at the apparition point on Platform 9 and 3/4, trunk magically modified and in her pocket.

_Finally,_ Lily thought, _finally she was ready for her final year and finally, she was Head Girl. Her life-long goal._ It was only at this point that her blasé I-do-not-even-care-who-Head-Boy-is attitude left her. The thought that Snape could possibly be Head Boy was really starting to hit her hard. How could she possibly get through the year if he was glued to her side? As long as it wasn't Snape, she was sure she could deal with it.

She watched students begin to arrive for a while before boarding the train at precisely seventeen minutes to eleven and heading to the Prefect's carriage. Traditionally, the Head Boy and Girl would meet there before the other Prefects joined after the train's departure from the station in order to plan train patrols.

Lily sat down and waited for the Head Boy. She could not do anything due to being so anxious and as time wore on, so did the Head Girl's patience, whoever he was, the Head Boy clearly was not good with time. It was nearing ten to, just fifteen or so minutes away from the arrival of the other Prefects and she still did not know the identity of her male counterpart. Lily began to pace.

As she turned away from the door, she heard footsteps approaching. "Finally," Lily said with a sigh before turning around to greet the new Head Boy. Instantly, her face fell.

* * *

James Potter was almost always late. Almost because there were rare occasions when he somehow managed to be on time or it was necessary for him to be on time. On this particular day, James had not meant to be late.

But he was.

Usually, James would saunter onto the Hogwarts Express with minutes to spare and make his way to the compartment marked by the Marauders back in first year. It was the compartment he and Sirius had met in, and the compartment the four wizards had carved their names into the wooden window frame a little later on. More often than not, there was some unsuspecting first year sat in there, unaware that the carriage was already taken, so the Marauders would let them know in their… less than subtle way. They would run away and then the carriage was free.

However, this year James had meant to be early. He was Head Boy. He had meant to be in the Prefect's carriage to meet the Head Girl – who, as the boys had debated over the last few weeks of the summer, was most likely either Lily or Emmeline Vance, the Ravenclaw Prefect.

No such luck. Instead, everything decided to go wrong. First, James overslept, a mistake he had not made in years, but things got worse when he had to spend half an hour trying to find his Head Boy badge, which happened to be right at the bottom of his trunk, and then repack everything he had removed in order to find it. This left the Head Boy extremely late and frantically rushing to leave the house and get to King's Cross on time.

When he arrived, he practically ran to the Prefect compartment to find the Head Girl pacing. Though her back was to him, James could tell exactly who it was by the masses of red hair that was pulled back into a plait that fell straight down her back.

Lily.

Shit.

It could have been a very good thing to have confirmed that Miss Lily Evans was his counterpart, but at that particular moment, he was sure she would want his balls on a platter no matter who was Head Boy just for being late. The fact it was him would make it ten times worse.

The plan to make the girl realise he was responsible was not going off to a great start.

Then she turned around.

* * *

This _had_ to be a joke. In fact, _of course_ it was a joke. He would _never_ be Head Boy. That's when it dawned on her, the Marauder's start of term prank! Lily began to laugh. "Brilliant Potter, you and your friend's have really outdone yourselves this time. Now, give Remus back his badge so he and I can discuss duties before the rest of the Prefects arrive."

As the laughter bubbled from Lily's lips, James seemed confused. She was not going to shout at him. That was a new one. But, of course, she thought it was all a joke. He did not blame her to be honest; he had thought it laughable when he got the badge himself (as had the Marauders when he told them).

James smirked, that stupid lopsided smirk that made Lily just want to punch him in the face, and said, "Well done, Evans, on the ball as usual. I would, of course, give the badge to Remus if I knew where he was, but that doesn't really matter anyway because, after all, he is not Head Boy; I am." James raised an eyebrow at Lily, waiting for an insult or her to maybe just scream, but she did neither.

Lily did not move, she could not breathe. Her mouth hung open, suspended in mid-air in complete shock. It was not a prank, it was not a joke. It was the hard truth staring her in the face. She was going to have to spend a whole year, her_ final_ year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with James-_bloody_-Potter.

"Now," he clapped his hands, "I believe we only have a few minutes to get this show on the road so are you going to stand there gaping all morning or are we actually going to do our jobs?"

The clap of his hands brought the Head Girl back to action and she immediately shook off her shock and irritation, as she knew she had a job to do. She was not going to let Potter put her down or ruin this for her and considering he knew nothing of Prefect duties, Lily figured she would have to fill him in along the way.

Walking over to the desk at the far end of the larger-than-normal compartment, she shuffled some pieces of parchment around and spoke matter-of-factly. "As I am sure you are aware, the Prefects will be here any minute. We need to welcome the new fifth year Prefects, and arrange the train patrols, and sort a time for the next Prefect's meeting. Clear?" Lily turned back to him and raised an eyebrow questioningly. She had a feeling she was going to end up doing the majority of the work.

Sauntering over to the desk, James lounged on a seat beside it, leaning back and trying to get comfortable, "What about castle patrols? I'd rather we just got the boring stuff out of the way so we don't have to waste precious time at Hogwarts, y'know?"

"If your time is so bloody precious, Potter, go. I could do this far easier without you," Lily glared, daring him to go. She was getting frustrated now; her perfect seventh year was starting to look less and less likely as time went on.

The wizard did not move, just smirked, "I'd hate to miss out on quality time with you, Evans. Plus, I don't want to go losing my position now, do I?" James just could not help himself. He needed to get back in the girl's good graces but something about his mouth just would not let him stop talking. Not to mention the fact that Lily Evans was ridiculously attractive when she was fired up.

The Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station at exactly eleven o'clock, the jolt forward of the brakes releasing marked the start of the journey and Lily turned to the compartment door. The other Prefects would start arriving soon; they needed to be quick.

"For your information, in the first week of term teachers and Head of school do patrols, so no, we don't need to organize those now. Any other questions?"

"That'll be all, Evans," James flashed a cocky grin as he stood and went to lean on the desk, starting to hear voices outside which, he assumed, meant the Prefects were arriving.

He may have been a rule-breaker, but there was one thing Lily had seriously misjudged about the situation she was in. The student body listened to him. Lily, while beautiful, intelligent, strong-willed and stupidly attractive when angry, was also not a favourite of many students. She had docked more points and suggested more people for detention than any other Prefect. The fact that she had a habit of being a bit of a goodie-two-shoes and her prudish tendencies did not help her case either. However, with James at her side, people may start listening to her. At least, that was what he thought.

Heading over to the door, Lily opened it and allowed the Prefects of differing houses, ages and sexes to enter and find a seat. She plastered a smile on her face, refusing to let herself rise to anything Potter was planning to throw her way. She had to bite the bullet and she knew it – if she took his bait, he would only get worse.

As the Prefects shuffled in in sparse intervals, James leaned cockily against the desk and Lily crossed her arms across her body, standing importantly on the opposite side of the desk, as far away from Potter as she could get.

The muttering started instantaneously. Why was Potter there? Why did he have the Head Boy badge? How were they going to survive the year with two Heads of School who hated each other?

Lily ignored the chatter as best she could and when the last of the twenty-three entered the compartment, muttering, "You have got to be kidding me," and slumping in the last remaining seat. As expected, Severus Snape was not happy.

"Okay, okay, quieten down," the Head Girl said so she could begin. The Prefects ignored her, clearly too engrossed in their own conversations about Potter's presence and what they had gotten up to in the holidays to listen to her.

Suddenly a high-pitched whistle reverberated around the compartment and everyone fell silent. Lily turned to the sound of the noise to find James with his fingers in his mouth. "Right, guys, do you want to shut up and listen to the Head Girl or shall we be docking points from you before we even get to Hogwarts?"

Lily was taken aback by his sudden change of attitude. Not moments before he had been mocking and almost as bad as Fifth-Year-Potter, but now he had her back? _What was with the damn mood swings?_

"Thank you, Potter," she said uncomfortably. "Yes, so. Welcome back to school and we hope you had enjoyable summers. As I'm sure it's clear, Potter and I will be your Heads of School and we'd like to take this opportunity to welcome and congratulate the new fifth year Prefects! It's a great honour and privilege so enjoy it!"

"Yes, congratulations! Anyway, we need to sort out train patrols so we can let you go and buy your Pumpkin Pasties before the trolley lady finishes her rounds," James pitched in with a grin.

Lily gave him a look but turned back to the Prefects with a smile. "There are eight carriages and a seven hour train journey. Let's keep it simple for now and pair the fifth year Prefects up with the seventh years of their own house, then the older one's can help the younger ones. Hufflepuff take carriage one, Ravenclaw two, Slytherin three, Gryffindor four and then the sixth years take the remaining four carriages. That's easy enough, I suppose."

Lily looked around to make sure everyone understood. There did not seem to be any confusion or objections so she pressed on. "Potter and I will patrol the whole train hourly to ensure you are all okay. Now, we need to have another Prefect meeting before Monday to sort castle patrols. You shouldn't have any commitments yet so I don't see there being much issue but does anyone have any preferences?"

The compartment was silent as Lily looked around at each student. No one spoke up and the witch was about to continue when James got there first. "Lively bunch this lot are," he noted aloud, receiving another glare from his counterpart before he went on. "Well, then, I suggest sometime after dinner this week, say Saturday?"

"Yes, seven o'clock on Saturday sounds good to me. We will see you all in the Heads' Office then. Older Prefects, if you could help the younger ones, we'd be grateful. Show them how the mirror works and so on," Lily looked down at the desk, checking her papers to make sure she had covered everything. "That's all for now. If there are any notices, they will go on the Prefect's noticeboard in your common room and the Prefect's meeting room. We shall see you all Saturday."

The Prefects were dismissed, all beginning to file out of the room. It was only then that Potter turned to her, "I think I did quite well there, don't you, Evans?"

Lily stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at James. She didn't move, she didn't make a sound, but the green emeralds of her eyes were ablaze with boiling fury.

"If looks could kill…" James laughed, but it fell flat and he sighed, "Listen, Evans, I don't want you to hate me and we need to get along if this is going to work. We can't be at each other's throats all bloody year and..." The look on Lily's face did not lighten, so he stopped and sighed again. "Look, I can tell you have some huge lecture for me about responsibility and such, leading to a comment about not ruining your life or year or whatever and keeping out of your way. Why don't you just let it all out, Evans, because you're clearly _dying_ to?"

And then, the stony mask split.

"You arrogant prat! You think you know everything don't you? Exactly how I'm going to react, exactly what to say to annoy me, but there's one thing you don't know, Potter. You don't know anything about being a good role model and believe it or not, you have been put in the position of one so you need to start acting like one. I have wanted this position since I was eleven years old and I've worked damn hard for it but you, you don't deserve it and yet here you are. Be grateful for Merlin's sake and actually do it justice instead of spending all of your goddamn time trying to wind me up. If you screw up this year for me, I will hold you personally responsible for the rest of your stupid life. Now get out of my face."

The redhead took a breath and she finally let out all of the anger that had built up throughout the meeting. She was tired of having to constantly fight with the wizard but he just was not getting the message through his thick skull. Lily stomped over to the desk, shuffled her sheets of parchment, and picked them up. As she turned back she saw James was still watching her, "What?!"

James just shook his head and laughed, "You stand there so high and bloody mighty, talking about good role models when you don't even stop for a second to let me prove myself. I did bloody well in that meeting for someone who has never been a Prefect, and no matter how many times you attempt to ignore the fact that I am trying, it won't stop it being true. If you're such a perfect damn role model, Evans, why are you stood there shouting at the Head Boy and telling him he doesn't deserve the position?"

"I'm not doubting that Professor Dumbledore has his reasons, because I'm sure he does. I was just stating that, in my eyes, there are people who have worked harder and care more about that position than you do," Lily snapped back.

His smirk vanished, "That actually stings, Evans. Not to mention the fact that you're criticising Dumbledore's choice of Heads of School, which does, in fact, include yourself. Plus, you need me. You don't want to admit it, but my being a Marauder has actually helped you today. None of the Prefects were going to listen to you until I stepped in and told them to shut it. People know who I am and I carry influence here, Evans - the Slytherins were certainly not overjoyed at having a Head with muggle parentage. I can help you if you stop being so bloody uppity."

Lily snorted, "Helped me? While you and your foolish friends may _'own'_ this school, you're influence over the student body has generally never been a good one, with the exception of Remus, of course. I don't need your help, Potter, I may be some lowly _Mudblood_ but I am perfectly capable of defending myself."

Her words were bitter and defiant, but she knew they were untrue. Although Lily was very talented with a wand, the forces she would soon be fighting knew magic darker than anything she had ever encountered before and she would be helpless against it.

The compartment rang silent until James broke it in an angered tone, towering over the Head Girl at an uncomfortably close distance, so close Lily could feel the anger radiating off of him, "Don't you _dare_ use that word. You are a more than capable witch, as we are both incredibly aware, one of the most brilliant in our year as we have already established this summer. I meant it then and I mean it now. But I bloody well hope you don't choke on your gratitude when the day comes when you _do_ need my help, because trust me, that day _will_ come."

Her use of the 'M' word had tipped James over the edge. His words were piercing and venomous, sinking into Lily's whole being. He hated that word more than anything; almost as much as he despised disloyalty and blood purity and even Snape. But the thing that he hated most about the word was when it was used in conjunction with Lily Evans.

It would have been wise at this point, for Lily to back down, but she was not done. In fact, all James had done was fire her up more. The tension in the room was so high it was practically electric. "Stop acting so bloody noble. I don't care what people label me because the truth is I_** am**_ a Mudblood and I've learnt to be proud of it. Believe it or not, I've come to accept the fact that I am not respected as well as all you perfect purebloods and I never will be. Mudblood is just a word to describe what I am. I don't care and I embrace it because I know damn well I can show up a good number of those purity mania fools."

James was practically spitting lava by the time the girl had finished, but instead of firing straight back, he stepped away and took a breath to calm down. "Muggleborn and Mudblood are two very different things, Evans. The term 'Mudblood' implies that being muggleborn is inferior and I have news for you, Lily," he struggled to keep his emotions in check, his voice rising slightly, "the moment you _accept_ that you're inferior to them is the moment you _become_ it, and that'll just be you signing your death warrant. Be a proud muggleborn, not a proud Mudblood."

With that, James left an astounded Lily alone and gaping in the centre of the Prefect's Compartment.

* * *

Both Heads of School found their way back to their friends who, thankfully for them, had opted to sit separately. Neither spoke much for the rest of the journey to Hogwarts; Lily replayed the argument in her head, each comment stinging and yet the truth frightfully evident. She hated to admit it, but James was completely right, and there was no way in hell she was going to sign her death warrant just yet.

James stared out the window at the landscape that passed the Express on their way to the Scottish highlands. The Marauders attempted to engage him in conversation, but he ignored them. Even talks of planning the start of year prank could not excite him at this point. Knowing James well, they opted to leave him to it. He would come back to them when he was ready.

Marlene, Mary and Alice worried about Lily as she sat silently in the compartment, deep in thought. They too knew better than to try and get her to talk about it, she was very good at letting out how she felt as long as she did it in her own time on her own terms.

Both left their compartments only to take a walk down the train every hour as their duties required. Both ignored the other as they passed in the corridor every time.

* * *

The Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station and the students filed out, James and Lily waiting on the platform for everyone to leave the train before ensuring everyone had disembarked. Neither spoke, and both tried to stay as far away from the other as possible but when they realised they had to board the same horseless carriage to get to the castle, there was no avoiding the company.

Lily fidgeted the whole journey. She regretted her accusations about the wizard, particularly as he did nothing but defend her the whole time. James was still fuming, but at himself more than anything. He should not have lost control of his temper as he had and he regretted it more than anything. However, his pride prevented him from apologising. Not just yet, anyway.

Chewing her lip, the Head Girl wondered if she should say something. She knew she had been wrong and her tension and anxiety from the day and her position had crept up on her, but there was something stopping her. While she spent years calling James Potter egotistical and arrogant, she had an ego of her own; that and her pride were, as James' were, preventing she too from apologising.

It was not until the carriage was about to pull into the castle did Lily manage to supress that pride and gather up all of her Gryffindor courage to say something. "Potter, listen…" James, who was preparing for a quick exit from the carriage stopped, shocked, and looked at her, his hazel eyes melting at the look of remorse on her face. She paused, still unable to form the words 'I'm sorry'. Instead, she nodded and licked her lips, the remorse turning to determination, "I'm not ready to sign my death warrant just yet."

* * *

Professor Dumbledore stood, the students before him having been sorted and eaten their fill, some still were, but as he stood, their heads all turned to him. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts and I am certain that you will all work as hard as ever," the old wizard began, his eyes twinkling in the candlelight. "I have particular confidence in my two Heads of School and I sincerely hope you do too. This year, I have chosen Miss Lily Evans of Gryffindor," there was a polite smattering of applause, mainly coming from the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, "and Mr James Potter, also of Gryffindor." This time, the room practically erupted. Applause and whispers filled the room; some about how on earth Potter managed to get the position and others about how positively beautiful he looked in a uniform.

"Onto notices," Dumbledore continued after the noise levels had lowered, "Mr Filch asks me to remind you all that the Dark Forest is forbidden to all students unless a member of staff has taken you there. Furthermore, the use or possession of any, and all, products bought at Zonko's Joke Shop is strictly prohibited. For a full list of banned items please see the door of Mr Filch's office."

"Finally, although the editor of the _Daily Prophet_ did not see fit to inform the public, I do believe it is important that you know that the situation in the wizarding world is getting more and more troublesome. A dark power has been rising for some time now and it is not going to just go away without us batting an eyelid. Lord Voldemort is a very serious threat, but we must remember that he is nothing more than a man. A very powerful man at that, but still only a man."

The Headmaster's gaze passed to the Slytherin table, "If we stand together, a united front, we can beat this. Voldemort lives to instill fear in those around him and that is what makes him powerful. I expect my Prefects to be showing you all a good example of this. Welcome back and good luck."

With that, the Prefects stood and began to lead first years to their houses. Lessons were due to start the next day and the school year had officially begun.

* * *

**A/N: Huge thank yous to Em for this chapter because a large amount of this came from her inspiration because she is a wonderful James.**

**Tell me what you think of the argument and feel free to tell me about anything or anyone you want to hear of see more of.**

**xoxo Andromache**


	8. Chapter 7: Tears, Trouble & Treacle Tart

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything to do with the Harry Potter series, it's characters, spells or such like._

* * *

**Chapter Seven****  
Tears, Trouble & Treacle Tart**

* * *

Lily awoke on the first day of class to the sun shining through the drapes surrounding her four-poster bed. It was early, too early for most students to be up, but the Head Girl rolled out of bed and jumped into the shower before her dorm mates awoke and did the same.

Though often an early riser, the witch still despised mornings, feeling they were cruel and extremely unnecessary, especially if you had been up late studying the night before. However, she was also well aware that the breakfast was always better at Hogwarts if you got there before the masses. Therefore, at seven o'clock sharp, Lily entered the Great Hall, hair thrown in a messy plait over her shoulder to hide the fact she had not washed it, and her shirt just peeking out the back of her jumper where she had forgotten to tuck it in all the way around.

That was how James Potter saw her on the first day of class. She was sat at the Gryffindor table, head leaning on her left hand, alternately turning the pages of the _Daily Prophet_ and taking a bite of toast, with a tiny scrap of white falling from her otherwise perfect attire. He sat down opposite her a little after half past when the hall was still relatively quiet, though she did not look up or even seem to notice his presence.

"Evans," James greeted, taking a slice of toast, some eggs, bacon and sausages from the centre of the table and piling them onto his plate. He looked up at the witch opposite him, her red hair tumbling over her right shoulder and her emerald eyes focussed on the page in front of her, darting from line to line.

"Potter," Lily replied, not removing her eyes from the newspaper. Yesterday they had left things between them uncertain. They were not friends, but they were not mad at each other either; however, Lily did wonder why on earth he had decided to take the seat opposite her. They had nothing to talk about as far as she was aware, plus, when the rest of the guys came down, the ruckus they would make would be too loud for her to concentrate on the _Prophet_ or her toast. It was a pain.

The witch sighed and sat up, looking at James, "Look, I'm trying to read about the attacks so if you're going to sit there and pester me or talk loudly to the guys or something, can you sit somewhere else?"

"Can you see anyone else here? Wait, what attack?" That caught the Head Boy's attention. "Can I borrow the _Prophet_ a sec?" He reached over and snatched the paper before Lily had a chance to argue and began to quickly read the article tucked in a tiny corner of one of the middle pages of the newspaper away from the big headlines, leaving the Head Girl with her mouth open and eyes blazing.

_**Rise in mysterious disappearances linked to masked attackers**_

_The rise in muggle and muggleborn disappearances over the last few months has now been linked to, what is presumed to be, a small group of masked wizards. On a few more recent occasions, the attackers have been seen fleeing the scenes of the disappearances in all black and masks covering their faces. _

_In the most recent case, this time the death of an unnamed muggle in Devon, no sign of the attackers were found apart from a green image floating above the house depicting a snake coming from the mouth of a skull. There is no confirmation on who is behind the disappearances or why._

James just finished the final sentence when the paper was ripped from his hands, "Excuse me, I was _reading_ that!" The Head Boy held up his hands in surrender, before running a hand through his hair in frustration. He could not believe just how much the _Prophet_ was being leant upon. He knew Minister Fawley was weak and clearly terrified by what would happen should the news get out about what Voldemort was actually doing, but to downplay such a huge story and write only a few sentences in the centre of the paper was just shocking. James slammed his fist on the table in frustration, gaining Evans' attention as she looked up from the article that she too had just finished.

"It's worse than they're making it out to be, isn't it?" Lily said, studying Potter and how tense he had become since she mentioned the word 'attacks'. Having spent more time with James' family over the summer than she had ever willingly spent with James in her whole time of knowing him, the witch was well aware of his father's position in the Ministry. He likely knew more than he or the _Daily Prophet_ was letting on.

James nodded solemnly, "There have been more than a few disappearances and certainly more than that one death. I heard my parents discussing it a few times over the summer. Plus, there were those Death Eaters that Sirius and I fought with. They're out there and they're coming." His irritation was obvious in his voice as it began to rise slightly and then he would hush himself back to a hissed, frustrated whisper, "That image the _Prophet_ talks of? The Aurors have dubbed it the _'Dark Mark', _and trust me, that wasn't the only house it has hung over this summer. It's ridiculous and infuriating! I just can't believe Fawley is covering this up! She needs to tell the world otherwise no one will be ready to fight and none of us will have a chance to survive." The Head Boy frowned, adding some baked beans to his plate and attacking the plate of food.

Lily frowned too, but went back to her toast and the rest of the paper. The pair ate in silence but were interrupted not long after by Professor McGonagall with the timetables for Gryffindor which they were to help hand out. The Hall was beginning to fill out as the Head Boy and Girl stood and began their first official duty.

* * *

As the seventh years filed into their first class of the year, Professor Slughorn called for order in the hope of quietening the chatter of excitement that the new school year brought; catching up on gossip with friends, scribbling out the holiday work that should have been completed months ago and talking of plans for the next few weeks. The professor's efforts were useless.

Lily entered the dungeon classroom, taking a seat at a desk in the middle of the class with Marley, Alice and Dee joining her there. On the other side of the room, an empty seat loomed, a ghost of Potions class past, beside Severus Snape. The seat remained empty and would do for the rest of the year, but Snape refused to let anyone else sit there. It was, for him, a constant reminder of the mistakes he made; the mistakes he knew he could never take back or atone for; even if he tried it would never be enough. The seat was his reminder to one day be a better person than he was, but that day was not today.

The wizard opened his textbook at Slughorn's request to a page he recalled from the previous year. The Draught of Living Death; one of the most advanced potions that half of the class had failed to brew correctly. In fact, the first time they had brewed it, if his memory was accurate, only two in the class _had_ managed to complete it correctly and in time. He was one; Lily had been the other.

Snape looked at the empty chair again and back to his textbook and the scribbled notes he had added over the many classes in which he had experimented with the brewing of the potion while others were still trying to brew it correctly once. He sighed, thinking of the days when he and Lily would share Potions notes. He had made her the Potioneer she was today. The wizard leant against his propped up hand and looked over to where the witch sat concentrating on every word Slughorn was saying about the potion.

Lily scribbled down, in her slightly scrawled speed writing, every word the professor spoke. Though she already knew everything she could possibly wish to know about the Draught of Living Death, it was necessary she did not miss out any extra information. From where Slughorn was heading with the lecture, she figured they would be brewing the Dreamless Sleep Potion next. Though it causes no harm to the drinker, unlike the draught, the potion does have similar qualities and therefore the brewing is just as complex and with some similar ingredients.

However, before long, the Head Girl's concentration was drawn away from Slughorn's monotonous voice by a scrap of parchment charmed to land exactly where she was writing.

_**Oi, Priss, what're you writing? – MM**_

_What Slughorn's saying… - LE_

_**But he's just going over last year. **_

_Uh huh, last year's work that relates to this year's work which will inevitably turn up in the final exam at the end of the year._

_**Oh… can I copy your notes?**_

Lily sent a glare Marlene's way before turning back to Slughorn and continuing her notes.

_**Please.**_

_**Pretty, pretty please?**_

_**Oh, come on, Lil! Old Sluggy won't know I copied your notes, and you know we all borrow your essays anyway…**_

_You do WHAT?_

_**Oops?**_

The Head Girl's glare intensified as she turned away from her friend and back to her work as Slughorn moved on to talking about the Dreamless Sleep Potion and its effects. Lily was going to be having words with Marlene later.

* * *

Lily packed up her things slowly, telling the girls she would see them at lunch as she had double free next. Little did she know that she was not the only person taking their time packing up. Snape, with his empty seat, was watching carefully as the classroom emptied and he and the Head Girl were left alone. He had to apologise.

Meandering over to where she stood with her back to him, Snape kept a slight distance so as not to cause her any discomfort and spoke up, "Hey, Lily, listen I-"

Before he even had a chance to finish his sentence, the witch had whipped around, wand in hand and in an attack stance. She knew the voice and she was not planning on taking chances, especially after the last time, and the fact that you cannot apparate in Hogwarts.

"Get away from me," Lily exclaimed as quickly as the words would escape her mouth. "Expelliarmus!" Her wand flicked and the words were out there before she had a chance to consider the consequences. She was done with feeling weak and vulnerable because of the fifth year incident.

The books and wand in Snape's arms flew across the classroom as the spell disarmed him, surprised by the attack from the Head Girl. Left gobsmacked and glued to the spot, he swallowed, thinking of some way to diffuse the situation. "I never meant any of it, okay? It was just because –"

Slashing her wand, Lily's rage flew into full force as she let out all of her pent-up emotion and anger. She was done with Snape's excuses. With each non-verbal spell, she said, "I – am – done – feeling – helpless – and – taking – the – shit – thrown – at – me. Don't – ever – come – near-"

Before Lily could finish her sentence, a voice called her from her furious haze and she blinked a few times, looking around to see where the voice had come from. Walking slowly towards her was James Potter, and on the ground in front of her was a petrified wizard, unconscious and covered in luminous green boils with pus exploding from numerous and a nose that was four times its usual, abnormal size.

Dropping her wand to the stone floor with a _clack_, wide-eyed Lily took a step back. She had just mercilessly attacked an unarmed pupil. Lily Evans, Prefect, Head Girl, Goodie-Two-Shoes Extraordinaire, had vindictively assaulted someone. She fell to the floor and burst into tears, unable to control the left over emotion that had not been released during the attack.

James ran to her side and gathered her up in his arms, not thinking about anything apart from the girl in tears in front of him. "Lily, Lily, hey, shh, don't cry. It's not your fault, okay, I promise it's not your fault."

She turned, sobbing into his robes, barely acknowledging who it was or the fact that there was a green, paralysed Snape in the room. "I'm sorry… I… I… I just… I don't know what happened… What have I done? What did I do? Please tell me they won't take away my badge… Please… I just… I don't want to – to sign my death warrant yet… That… that w-was completely un-uncalled for… I… I… can't believe I just… I… lost it. I never lose it! I… I n-never… I… I'm so sorry, I-I'm… I…" Lily's blubbering turned incoherent as she continued to sob before silence filled the almost empty classroom.

"Hey," James rubbed her back and lifted her chin so she would look at him, "he deserved it and you know that. No one will take away your badge, I can assure you that." They sat there in silence for a few more minutes, Lily's head leaning on James' chest, tears silently rolling down her cheeks. "We should get out of here before Snivelly wakes up," a small smile spread across his face, "and I know exactly where we can go."

Helping her up, James put an arm around a still crying Lily and grabbed both of their belongings as he led her from the classroom and down the corridor.

* * *

"Where are we?" Lily asked, no longer crying but still feeling terribly guilty about what she had done.

Gobsmacked, James laughed and reached out a hand to, what Lily could only assume was, tickle the portrait of a fruit bowl in front of them, specifically, the pear. With a _whoosh_ the portrait swung forward, revealing a passageway into a huge open plan room filled with very low countertops, a fireplace and around a hundred house elves.

"Miss Evans, welcome to the Hogwarts Kitchens! Nowhere else on these grounds would you be able to find better service or nicer food. Whatever you want, they have or can make in a flash. Your wish is their command," the lopsided smirk plastered across James' face was becoming less and less annoying every time she saw it, and Lily was wondering if she should question why. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by an elf that stopped directly in front of the two Gryffindors.

"Hello, Master Potter, so good it is to be seeing you again," the wide-eyed elf in its Hogwarts Kitchens tea towel excitedly shook James' hand before turning to Lily, "and this is Miss Evans, so good it is to be meeting you, Miss. I is being Jepsom and Jepsom is getting you whatever you is wanting."

Feeling a mixture of shock and amazement by the place, one that had been there for all her time at Hogwarts and she had only just been shown it, Lily said nothing and just looked around in wonder.

A chuckle escaped James at the look on his companion's face, "We need some ice cream. Miss Evans will pick a flavour and we need some tart too, treacle, of course and-"

"Whoa, there, King Hubert," Lily jumped back to her senses at the mention of food. Nothing made a girl forget their woes better than food, "hold your horses! First of all, we want raspberry ripple ice cream, and second of all, who even likes treacle tart? Apple pie is so much better, we'll have that." The Head Girl flashed a grin and Jepsom jumped to work as she called a 'thank you' after him.

"Evans, as much as I love the fact you've finally recognised my position, who in Merlin's name is King Hubert?" James tilted his head to her, walking backwards toward an empty counter and sitting on it.

"King Hubert? Seriously?" Lily opened her mouth, half shocked, half amused, "Come on, Sleeping Beauty? Prince Philip's father? No? Ugh, you're _such_ a wizard," she said with a smirk. "He's this gluttonous king that's constantly eating and gnawing on chicken legs and getting drunk, and he also turns out to be the hero's father."

"Are you calling me fat?" James retorted, eyebrows raised in mock offence while Lily just shrugged and smirked. Before she could reply, the elf returned with ice cream and both types of dessert for the pair.

They ate their food, laughing and joking. Maybe things were changing for them, maybe things would continue to change for them, maybe the Heads of School would actually get along.

* * *

Over an hour later, James and Lily left the elves, the food and the kitchens. It was almost lunchtime, and well past the time they should stop bothering the elves who were desperately trying to prepare lunch. Not long into their journey back to Gryffindor tower, a first year stopped them, asking for Lily.

"Excuse me, Miss Evans," the small, brown-haired, brown-eyed wizard said, "I've been told to deliver this to you." He handed her the parchment and disappeared down the corridor.

Confused, Lily unrolled the note and read aloud:

_Miss Evans,_

_Please meet with me in my office at 7pm this evening to discuss plans for this year as a Head of School. The password is 'Ice Mice'._

_Professor Dumbledore_

"How come you haven't had a note," the witch asked, "surely Dumbledore'll want to see you too?" James went silent and ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up, and staring at the floor. "Potter? What've you done now?" Lily raised her eyebrows, waiting for his answer.

"Well," he said slowly, running a hand through his hair yet again, "you have a free now, right? So the first year had to find you and we're not far from the common room so it's logical…"

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?"

"My note was probably sent with a first year to the Runes classroom… because I'm supposed to be in Ancient Runes," James finished with a wince, waiting for the oncoming storm.

"Potter! It is your _first_ _day_ as Head Boy and you can't even get through the morning without skiving?" Lily smacked him on the shoulder and folded her arms across her chest. "Oh god, it's all my fault! It's my fault you skived and, Merlin, I cursed Snape, I'm not one to talk about being a good Head of School!"

Laughter bubbled from her lips as she thought of the mess the pair of them had managed to get themselves into within the first few hours of the new school year. What kind of Heads they would be.

* * *

Lily entered the Great Hall alone, having told her friends earlier she would meet them there, and headed towards the usual spot on the Gryffindor table where they tended to accumulate. She sat and started helping herself to the food around her, but was soon joined by Marlene and Mary.

"So did you hear about Snape?" Marlene said excitedly, clearly barely able to contain herself. The Head Girl's ears tinged pink but she tried to act cool and shrugged. "Well, apparently, he was found in our Potions classroom out cold and he had been turned into this, like, green glob of goo or something and he's been in the Hospital Wing all morning. Merlin, I'd kill to see that."

"What was that, Marls? What's old Snivelly gotten himself into now?" The voice of Sirius Black was instantly recognisable as he and the rest of the Marauders joined the girls.

"Didn't you hear? In fact, I thought it was probably you lot who'd done it," the witch continued, while James and Lily exchanged glances across the table; Lily's guilty, while James' amused. "I heard he looked practically monstrous," Marlene added with glee.

Lily bit her lip and pushed her food around her plate, "Come on, Marls, let's not be mean. I think Snape's probably had enough for the day." Hazel met green once again, but this time someone noticed.

Mary narrowed her eyes, having been silent up until now, "Do you two know something?" She looked from James to Lily, the question bringing a huge smirk out of him and a severe shake of the head from her.

"You do," Marlene joined in eagerly. "Come on, spill the beans, Lovely Lily. Have you been causing mischief without us?" She giggled at the mere thought of her best friend possibly harming someone and soon the others were laughing too. The only person who was not was Lily herself.

"Yes, do _spill the beans_, Miss Evans. We all wish to know exactly what happened to Mr Snape." Unbeknownst to the Gryffindors, Professor McGonagall had been standing not far away and heading for the group when she heard most of the conversation. "Well?"

"It was me."

Lily's head snapped up, shocked at the admission from someone who was clearly not her. What was he doing? The imbecile was taking the fall for her?

"What?" Lily, Marlene and Sirius all spoke at the same time. One gobsmacked he was taking the blame, one positive it had been Lily, and the final one shocked he had not been informed prior to this.

"Unsurprising in reality, Mr Potter; however I had hoped for better from you now that you are Head Boy," the Deputy Headmistress pursed her lips into a thin line. "I have a message from Professor Dumbledore that was unable to be delivered to you earlier due to your absence in Ancient Runes, which is evidently now explained. I would also like to see you in my office at seven o'clock sharp every evening from tomorrow onwards for a week." With that, the woman turned and headed down the Hall to the teachers' table.

* * *

The afternoon passed quickly and before long Lily found herself outside Dumbledore's office, Potter in tow, still mad at the sod.

"Evans, you're going to have to talk to me sometime," he said, stopping in front of the gargoyle that hid the staircase to Dumbledore's office, blocking her way.

"Not if I can help it." Lily tried sidestepping him but he got in her way again. She glared up at him, hoping he would just let her pass without another word but it was futile.

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "You're Head Girl, okay, and I know how much the job means to you. Plus, you've never been given detention and saying that I did it, like McGonagall said, is really not that unbelievable."

"That's not the point!" The frustration was evident in the witch's voice as her emerald eyes flashed, "I don't need you trying to save me or be some messed up kind of knight in shining armour or something! We're not even friends, Potter!"

The wizard stopped, hurt by the pronouncement, thus allowing Lily to dodge around him, say the password, and head up the moving staircase that led to the Headmaster's Office.

* * *

"Please, sit," Professor Dumbledore began from behind his desk after James and Lily entered the room. They walked forward and sat on the two armchairs that had clearly been conjured specifically for their use. "I requested your presence this evening to discuss the enormity of your positions as Heads of School. I am certain that Miss Evans is well acquainted with your duties and will inform you, Mr Potter, as necessary; however, as I mentioned last night, there is more to your job this year."

The headmaster paused, allowing the witch and wizard to take everything in before continuing, "I believe you have both read the article in the _Daily Prophet_ this morning, and therefore understand that the situation is only going to worsen. I chose the two of you for Heads of School, not necessarily for your obedient nature," he glanced at James, his eyes twinkling beneath his half-moon spectacles, "but because I believe you can make a difference. Some of the staff may have been apprehensive about my decision but I stand by it. In the coming months, I may have to require your support in some very difficult matters and I will be very grateful for it."

The two pupils nodded, listening attentively as Dumbledore moved on, "Now, usually I tend to meet with my Heads of School every month and receive other information through the reports of the biweekly Prefect meetings. However, I believe that this year my relationship with you is more important than ever. Therefore, I propose we also meet on a biweekly basis, which may be altered to weekly if necessary."

"Sir," James spoke up for the first time since entering the office, "Minister Fawley's been covering up attacks, hasn't she? Isn't there something you can do about it? It's not right. How can we fight when we have a Minister for Magic too cowardly to do anything about You-Know-Who?"

"Firstly, James, call him Voldemort," the older man replied, "fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself. And secondly, while the Minister and I have conflicting views on reporting the attacks, it is not my place to contradict her."

"Yes, sir. I understand but –"

"That is how our society functions. It does not, however, mean that nothing is being done about it," Dumbledore hushed James before turning to the young wizard's counterpart. "Miss Evans, is there anything you wish to ask me?"

"No, sir," Lily replied obediently.

"Then that is all, thank you for coming," Professor Dumbledore stood with his pupils as they turned and headed for the door. "Oh, Miss Evans," he called after them, "I hope you don't mind joining Mr Potter at his detentions for the next week, though I will commend you on your wandwork." The twinkling in the wizard's eyes was unmissable as the pair left the room, yet again amazed at the Headmaster's omniscience.

* * *

**A/N: I am so, so sorry for my absence over the last few weeks. I've had to deal with a family crisis and haven't felt up to writing. However, I'm back now and Chapter 8 is on the way so don't you worry! I do feel horrifically guilty though for not updating so take this as a huge apology. I'm sorry for the current lack of Marauder action, but hopefully there will be more soon. Next chapter is full of Jily with some Prefects in between, so that's something to look forward to.**

**Thank you again for your continuing support and to Emilie and Bee for being fabulous betas.**

**xoxo Andromache**


	9. Chapter 8: Quidditch Querencia

_**Disclaimer:**I'm still not JKR and this is still mainly hers._

* * *

**Chapter Eight  
****Quidditch Querencia**

* * *

After leaving the Headmaster, James headed straight down the corridor and ducked into a passageway that cut straight through the castle and missed out numerous superfluous hallways, making it a quicker route to the Gryffindor Common Room. It was also a Lily Evans-less passageway.

Lily had thought she was directly behind her companion but as she looked around the hallway, she found herself alone. He had needed to get away. The office had been stifling, especially being in such close quarters to Evans after what she had said. He tried not to think too much into it, he knew he had to stay with her and see the Headmaster, but Merlin did he feel like he had been stabbed in the gut. So he put on a strong face and a stern demeanour and did what he had to do. Now he needed to be alone.

All James could hear was his own footsteps as he slinked down passages and hallways to the Common Room, but upon arriving at the portrait of the Fat Lady, he turned and went off in another direction, the painted witch grumbling dissention in his wake.

People said that Hogwarts was a living castle, with ever-changing rooms and passages and you could live there for years and still get lost or find something new. James Potter knew the place like the back of his hand. That does not mean he knew _everything_ about the place, for that was impossible, but what he did know, he knew well.

He weaved through the castle unseen and with no direction, just thoughts buzzing through his mind. The day had been one of confusion. He had helped Lily, saved her even, bonded with her, taken the fall for her, and all he got in return was her anger and a proclamation that they were not even friends. Now that stung.

Tomorrow, however, brought new things. Some could be gifts and some could be nightmares. Not only would he and Evans have to reschedule the Prefect meeting to an earlier time, but he would also be in detention with her.

A part of James thought tomorrow would be a good time to start sorting out the mess today had created. Another part dreaded how much worse tomorrow could make it. He needed to sleep and decide just how upset he was with Lily.

* * *

Waking up earlier than most students would on a Saturday, James Potter grabbed his broomstick from the bottom of his four-poster bed and headed out of the dormitory before any of his dorm mates had so much as snored.

The Gryffindor Quidditch Captain spent the morning out on the pitch flying as high and as fast as possible on his _Nimbus 1500_. James loved to fly; the wind whistling in his ears and that feeling of invincibility as you look down upon the earth. Nothing could beat it in his opinion. It also had one other advantage; it helped him think.

So as James soared above the world, he tried to decide a way to approach the day with Lily. He knew he would still do anything for the witch; that was for certain. He decided, therefore, he would begin by finding her, begging for forgiveness, losing all dignity and possibly selling his soul to the devil... and that was only to get her to talk to him.

* * *

A morning in the library was, to Lily, time well spent, especially if it means you complete your foot and a half Potions essay and History of Magic reading with six inch complimentary notes. Very productive indeed for a Head Girl with a week of detention. While she was frustrated by the fact, she knew she deserved them, what annoyed her more was the fact she was doing them with James Potter.

Lily's main problem, however, was that no matter how much he exasperated her, she had no right to stay angry at him for long. After all, he had stopped her from continuing doing something she would regret, cheered her up _and_ taken the blame for her. Then, just to put the cherry on top of her ungrateful cake, she had told him they were not even friends.

If she wanted a smooth year as Head Girl, she had some serious bridges to mend.

* * *

Lily was heading back to the Gryffindor Tower before lunch along the fourth floor corridor, having been to see Professor Binns, by the time James caught up with her. His hair was still wet from his shower after flying and his broom was in his hands along with, what seemed to be, an old piece of parchment.

The Head Girl did not see James coming as he rounded the corner and spied the mass of fiery red hair disappearing down the corridor.

"Evans! Evans, hey, wait!" The Head Boy called after her, jogging to catch up. Lily turned at the sound of her voice and was taken aback by whom she found. It had seemed to her that she was the one who needed to find Potter and apologise but somehow he had managed to find her first. How _had_ he managed that?

Lily stopped and waited for Potter to catch up, wondering what on earth she could say to him. It was 3rd September and already she had had two arguments with the bloke and this would be the second time she attempted to apologise without saying the words 'I'm sorry'. Perhaps she should learn that one.

"Listen, about yesterday…"

"Listen, we need to talk…"

Both Lily and James spoke at the same time, neither wanting to have to face the Prefects again in an argument and neither wanting to have to deal with the other's annoyance during the three hours of detention they had to spend together.

"Can I go first?" Lily asked before continuing barely waiting for a response, "You did nothing but help me yesterday and, while I still don't understand why you did, it was wrong of me to be so ungrateful about it." She took a deep breath, trying to straighten out all the thoughts in her head. She may have said they were not friends, but in reality, that was the truth. They had never been friends before, just housemates but when does the line of friendly change from housemate friendly to friends friendly. It confused the heck out of her. "I just… I just don't understand any of this. We have never been friends, and you know that as well as I. So are we? Or are we just co-Heads of School and housemates?"

The sudden stream of sentences that came tumbling from the witch's mouth took James aback. He had never even considered how confusing the sudden change in direction of their relationship must have been for Lily. While he had had imaginary relationships with the girl since third year, for her it must have been quite out of the blue that he was being so kind. It was a side of himself he had never let Lily get too close to. A side of himself he rarely showed to anyone but his close friends, so when he had perpetually asked the witch out, it had been his arrogant, laddish side talking, even if the feelings behind it had been real. Last year he had toned things down but over the summer he had tried mending his broken, barely existent relationship with Lily Evans. Now he was not causing as much mischief, he was not constantly picking fights, and he was looking out for her. Lily had a point; what were they?

"I don't know," James said quietly. "Why don't you decide what you want to be and get back to me?" He turned and walked back the way he came, well aware it was the opposite direction from the Gryffindor Tower but knew he could take a passageway to cut through and get there before Lily. His attempt at fixing things before the Prefect meeting seemed to have taken an unforeseen turn, but he had left the option in her hands. It was up to Lily now.

* * *

Left alone in the fourth floor corridor, Lily could not bring herself to call after James and stop him. Instead she turned and headed for the staircase up to the seventh floor where the Fat Lady was situated.

Lily almost walked past the portrait due to being so deep in thought – did she want to be friends with James Potter? She was not sure. All she knew is that she was done arguing with him. After six years of constant fighting and frustration, Lily wanted to turn over a new leaf.

The Head Girl entered the Common Room and headed straight up to her dormitory, stopping only to pick up a piece of parchment, quill and ink on her way to the window sill.

_**Potter,**_

_**Friends sounds like a good start.**_

_**Evans**_

She opened the window, letting the chilled autumn breeze into the empty dormitory, and looked out across the grounds in case Athena was swooping around and could be called in. Much to Lily's dismay, her owl was nowhere to be seen, although one she recognised was headed straight for her open window.

Jinx, the McKinnon family owl swooped in and dropped a package on Marlene's bed before heading back toward Lily. She closed the window to stop the owl, which decided to perch itself on the sill instead, hoping she would let him out. Stealing the opportunity, Lily tied her letter to the owl's foot and asked it to take the letter to the boy's dormitory around the other side of the tower.

Before long, there was a tapping on the window as an owl, Lily assumed was James', brought a return letter.

_Evans,_

_A good start. We need to push the Prefect meeting to 4pm because of detention – tell everyone at lunch?_

_Potter_

_**Sounds good. See you there.**_

_**Evans**_

* * *

The Great Hall was packed by the time Lily got down there at one o'clock. Instead of heading over to her usual spot where her friends were waiting, she headed towards the Hufflepuff table where she had spotted Peter Blotting, the seventh year Prefect. While the wizard was not Lily's ideal choice of company, his mind always searching for a story to tell above anything else, he was reliable in helping spread the word about the Prefect meeting.

"Hey Lily," Peter called out as the Head Girl approached. "What brings you to the 'Puff table?"

"Peter, just the person I was looking for," Lily replied. "Listen, can you spread the word that the Prefect meeting is being moved to four o'clock before dinner as opposed to after? Thanks!"

At Blotting's acknowledgement, the witch turned to walk away and find some more Prefects but instead walked straight into something solid and, apparently, living due to the noise it made upon collision.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't –" Lily started to gush before looking up to see who exactly she had walked into. "Oh. Potter, it's you. I was just about to go find you." Walking around James, the witch headed toward the Ravenclaw table, assuming he would follow. "So do you want to tell the Slytherins or shall I?"

There was no way in hell James was going to let Lily approach a group of prejudiced lowlifes alone, especially when she was a target of their prejudice. Even though it would be wrong for all Slytherins to be stereotyped in such a way, James became very narrow-minded when it came to the safety of one Lily Evans.

"I'll do it," he said almost immediately.

"Okay," she replied, adding, "We also should meet in the Heads' Office before the meeting. We need to fix up some schedules and such like."

"Meet you there at three?"

"Sure," Lily smiled slightly before turning back toward the Ravenclaw table and then the Gryffindors to tell them the news and grab some food. James stood there for a moment between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, watching the mass of red swish away from him, a smile forming on his own face. There was hope.

* * *

The only reason James knew the exact location of the Heads' Office was due to the fact that, upon Remus being made a Prefect and shown where the office was, the guys had attempted to enter and set of dungbombs all over the work of Frank Longbottom and Demelza Dennisby, the then Heads of School. Luckily for Demi and Frank, the office had rejected James, Peter and Sirius, and Remus had not wanted to do it alone, his argument being it would be too obvious.

Arriving slightly before three in the corridor of Mendacious Malodora Grymm on the second floor, James wandered down the corridor, passing the portrait of the famous hag, who frequently turned into the beautiful queen many knew her as and grumbled about not being the fairest of them all. Opposite Grymm's portrait was a mirror that she often hurled insults at, which also happened to be the entrance to the Heads' Office.

Although James knew how to make the mirror admit him into the office beyond, it felt odd to be saying it all out loud. No one was about and the corridor was almost silent apart from him drumming his wand against his leg with an uncharacteristic apprehensiveness. After a moment, the wizard tapped the mirror thrice with his wand, stating, "James Potter, Head Boy, planning for Prefect meeting." He did not even have a chance to feel foolish as the glass in front of him started shimmering and looked almost… liquefied.

"That's the point when you step through," a voice spoke behind James and he turned, his gaze landing on Lily who was laden down with books and multiple oversized pieces of parchment, but a glittering smile still shone across her face.

The smile faltered slightly as one of the tomes began to slip from her hands but James caught it just in time and opted to take the rest of Lily's belongings from her arms.

"You really don't ha–," the Head Girl started but realised her efforts were futile, saying, "thank you," simply instead.

"Come on then, Evans, we don't want to be unprepared when the Prefects arrive," the smirk she used to so hate formed on his lips and she turned to the mirror to hide her small smile.

Lily tapped the mirror, which had now hardened back to glass, three times and affirmed, "Lily Evans and James Potter, Head Girl and Boy, planning for Prefect meeting." Once again the glass shimmered and Lily walked straight through it with James following behind.

The smile widened on the faces of both Heads as they entered the room. Though Lily had been in the office before, it, like many rooms in the Hogwarts Castle, altered to accommodate its occupants. At the far end of the room was a great mahogany desk and chair in front of a latticed window where the afternoon sun was shining through. To the right of the desk was a wall covered in shelf after shelf of every possible book one could imagine to be of use to the Heads of School, and opposite it was a fireplace in which lay a roaring fire. In between the three walls lay the sofas and armchairs to accommodate for this year's twenty-five Prefects and Heads, complete with a small table and jugs of both water and pumpkin juice ready for the meeting.

The thing, however, that made the office theirs was the scarlet and gold theme running through all of the upholstering, which reminded James and Lily very much of the Gryffindor Common Room.

"It's perfect," Lily whispered with awe, the smile failing to be removed from her face.

"Perfect for hiding from Filch! I bet he can't get in here," James smirked, "the bloke doesn't even have a wand."

The witch narrowed her eyes at him, hoping he would take it as a warning not to test that theory. "I think maybe we should get on," Lily said warily, wanting to change the subject from her partner's mischief. She took her books and parchment back and went to settle herself in one of the scarlet armchairs, placing her things on the table, slipping off her shoes and crossing her legs up on the chair.

James followed and sat across from her, lounging on a sofa with his feet propped up on the arm and his hands behind his head. Lily glared at his shoes, which he had clearly not even thought to take off, but decided to swallow the demand to remove them, thankful that they at least were not touching the upholstery.

"So what is there to do, Miss Head Girl Extraordinaire? What duties have we to attend?" He smirked and waited, but after a second he pulled out his wand and flicked it, pouring two glasses of pumpkin juice from the jugs on the table.

"Well, we have to preliminarily sort out the patrol schedule. Usually we do a biweekly sign up sheet which is sorted after every meeting." As soon as Lily started talking she felt at ease again. Being alone with Potter, specifically a version of Potter that was kind and _helpful_, was not something the witch was used to. Thinking like the Head Girl she was made spending time with Potter easier. It meant things were normal. It meant she knew what to say.

"I have made the chart here," she picked up a piece of parchment, quill and ink, "but there are obviously some rules to it. Basically, two pairs patrol from nine until –"

"Ten, yes, I am well aware of the patrol schedule," the Head Boy smirked and sipped his drink which only made Lily scowl. "What? Best way to evade Prefects is to know how they work!"

She ignored the comment, gave him a look that said 'don't interrupt again' and continued, "Nine 'til ten every night apart from Friday and Saturday, and those four Prefects cannot all be from the same house. The ten 'til eleven patrols are done by seventh years only and we have to take three of those per week. The numbers add up wrong so some have to patrol twice a week while others only once but essentially everyone has to patrol at least four times a month. Make sense?"

James nodded but sighed, "We seriously have to patrol three times a week? Do you know how much of my busy schedule that takes up?"

"Potter, get over it. You were made Head Boy and this is a duty. Trust me, I'd rather I didn't have to spend three extra hours with you a week but there's nothing either of us can do about it so let's deal with it and move on." Lily sighed and sucked on the end of her quill, scanning the chart, "Any preference on when you want to patrol?"

"Not Monday or Friday, but I'm free apart from that," the wizard said with a shrug, sitting up and leaning over to see what else filled the masses of parchment Lily had brought with her.

"Please don't touch them, they're in order," she said wearily, leaning over and snatching the parchment back, he held his hands in submission and leaned back on the sofa again. "So Monday and Friday? What's got you so booked up so early in the term?" Lily rolled her eyes and began scribbling their names in the box for the late Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday patrols.

"Booked the Quidditch pitch for practice and who knows what kind of mood that'll put me in. We lost some great players last year and no doubt everyone has been slacking over summer," James ran a hand through his hair, irritation tinting his tone of voice.

"But trials aren't until the weekend of the seventeenth…" the witch narrowed her eyes, confused and yet amazed by his dedication to the game. She was aware that he was known to be like a slave driver when it came to his Quidditch captaincy, but to be practicing twice a week before trials, that was commitment.

"And as I said, most of the remaining team are likely out of shape. We will win this year, if it's the last thing I do. We missed out to Ravenclaw last year by a slip of a Bowtruckle and there's no way I'm letting that happen again," James sighed again before turning the topic back to patrols and away from his frustration with the inter-house sport. "When're you putting us down for?"

"Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Sound good? I was also thinking of arranging the first week in Prefect pairs just for examples sake and to make sure no one tries to get out of it. Having an odd number makes it all a bit skewwhiff but I figured if Edgar patrolled twice and once with Remus, it would make it easier. Want a say in any of this or shall I just fill it out?"

"Go for it. Anything else we need to do?"

"Decide on Hogsmeade weekends, but that's about it right now. At the meeting we also have to go over rules on point taking and referring people for detentions."

"I can pick that up in the meeting it's cool."

"Hogsmeade weekends then. Any preference?" Lily barely looked up from her parchment as she scribbled the names into the patrol schedule, "I was thinking one in October and one in December."

James thought for a minute, a smile spreading across his face, "What's the weekend around the 13th October?"

"Uh…" The witch flicked through her pieces of parchment to find the one she was looking for, "fifteenth is the Saturday. Sirius' birthday?"

"Of course! We have some _things_ planned." Lily could tell he was scheming and to be honest, she did not want to know. She told him so.

"Okay, so 15th October for the first and so the second should be…" The Head Girl looked at the parchment again, pointed at a few spots on it and seemed to be counting, "say 3rd December? Christmas holidays start on the 16th so it's close enough to be able to buy gifts and feel festive, but not the weekend before so people aren't panicking about packing and such."

"People actually panic about packing?" James enquired, seemingly confused that anyone could possibly put forethought into such a thing.

Lily frowned slightly. "Some people do, yes," she replied, a defensive tone underlying the statement.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with it," he laughed, holding his hands up. "Each to their own." The Head Boy paused and leaned back again, taking a sip of his juice, "Third sounds fine."

* * *

Before long, Lily had tidied her things and was sat on the mahogany desk alongside Potter as the Prefects began to trickle in, small groups at a time, and take a seat. They all marvelled at the new look of the office; the fifth years were especially impressed and the Gryffindors whooped with house pride.

Once everyone was present, the meeting began, Lily leading with James chiming in when appropriate. He marvelled at how well she handled the large group of teenagers, some barely listening to her at times. He could tell that it irritated her from the way her lips pursed slightly when Gawain Robards, a sixth year Ravenclaw, was constantly trying to get the attention of Susie Sooth, an older housemate, and when Jugson sniggered upon the mention of not taking points for unqualified reasons. Yet through all of it, Lily kept her head up and responded with dignity. It seemed she had taken on some of what he had said back on the Hogwarts Express.

James may not have been fully aware of it or willing to accept it at that particular moment, but it was times like these that made him fall in love with Lily Evans that little bit more.

After almost an hour of chatter about patrol schedules and rules, point taking, detention referrals and general conduct as a Prefect and leader of the school, the meeting was drawn to a close. On their way out, each person signed up on the chart, some ensuring they could do as few patrols as possible while others did their best to be helpful. Soon the Head Boy and Girl were alone again.

"Don't you have some mischief to cause before detention?" Lily asked as she was packing away her things, realising James was still there and watching her.

"Nah, the blokes can cope without me for a bit longer," he smirked and pushed his glasses further up his nose, "besides, I need to give you something before detention."

Lily raised her eyebrows, confused and wary as usually gifts from a Marauder would be booby-trapped to explode gunk in your face at inopportune moments or something horrible like that. "Do I want this gift?" She asked apprehensively.

"If you want to get through detention in a week without being up all night and bored out of your brains, then yes, you do." The Head Boy grinned and pulled a wand from his pocket and handed it to her.

The witch looked at the wand now in her hands, up to James and then back to the wand. "And why, may I ask, do I require your wand?"

"Ah, that's where you're wrong Evans," he said with a sly grin, "that is not my wand. It is a completely coreless piece of wood painted to look like a wand. Try channelling your magic through that thing and you'd look more like a squib than old Filchy."

Lily sighed, half wanting to laugh but refusing to allow herself to seem like she was encouraging his troublemaking, "I really don't want to know why you have a fake wand on hand, but I assume I'll find out once you tell me why I'll need it."

"Well," James began, "in almost every detention I have attended, and let me tell you, Evans, that is quite a number, the teacher in charge has confiscated my wand in order for me to do whatever disastrous task is required of me without using magic. After the first month of painstakingly boring detentions of cleaning cauldrons and shining trophies using muggle methods, Sirius came up with the bright idea of creating fake wands to hand in. Slughorn and Filch are the easiest to get past. Sluggy never checks and Filch wouldn't know the difference between real and fake if it smacked him in the head with a box of Filibuster's, but you can't always get away with it. It's worth having with you though just in case."

The wizard grinned and turned away, heading for the mirror door. "See you, Evans," he called back, leaving Lily staring at the wand with bemusement. They may have been menaces, but she had to admit, the Marauders were bloody brilliant.

* * *

Five minutes to seven and Lily was waiting outside Professor McGonagall's office on the first floor. She had seen Potter before leaving the Great Hall and he had made an 'I'm coming' signal, but that was over fifteen minutes ago and he still was not there. Lily sighed, wondering what trials and tribulations were in store for her at her first ever detention, especially when McGonagall was in charge.

James rushed up moments before the professor opened her door and told both Head Students to come in. He was red faced and catching his breath so either he had almost forgotten or he had been up to something. Lily narrowed her eyes, curious but at the same time not wanting to know.

"Good evening, Miss Evans, Mr Potter," McGonagall spoke from behind her desk, pausing between each name and looking at them both in turn. She pursed her lips and motioned for them both to sit in the seats opposite her. "Now, I understand that this is your first time in detention throughout the seven years you have attended this school, Miss Evans; however, attacking another student is a very serious offence, significantly more so owing to your position as Head Girl. For that reason, and due to the fact that your accomplice here," she looked to James, "is a seasoned professional, I'm afraid your tasks over the next week shall not be a stroll in the park."

_Damn_, Lily thought. She had hoped that maybe McGonagall would take pity on her for having no wrongdoings in the past, though she did understand. She was Head Girl after all and she was supposed to be setting a good example, especially one of house unity, and yet she had attacked an unarmed student of another house unprovoked.

"I understand, Professor," the younger witch said solemnly.

"Don't worry, Minnie, m'dear, I'll show her the ropes," James chimed in, a wicked grin covering his face.

McGonagall huffed, flustered by James' casual tone. "Be careful, Mr Potter, you don't want another week," she warned, her lips pursed so thinly they were barely visible, her eyes not moving from him. "While it is a relief to see you both in the same room without ripping each other's heads off, I would appreciate it if your indiscretions did not rub off on Miss Evans." James nodded, refusing to remove the grin from his own face.

Lily could not have been more embarrassed. Not only was she in detention, but Potter was making things worse for himself and just being the obnoxious boy she had thought he had grown out of. Worse than that, McGonagall thought it was _his_ influence that had prompted her attack on Snape. _His influence_!

"For the evening," the professor continued, "I am leaving you in the capable hands of Madam Hooch. I believe she plans to have you cleaning the Quidditch spares," James groaned, but quietened upon receiving a glare from McGonagall, "though she will inform you the specifics. If you would like to make your way to the Quidditch pitch, Madam Hooch will be awaiting you arrival."

The pair stood and left the office, James still grinning and Lily contemplative. They had started heading down the corridor to the entrance hall staircase before the Head Boy looked over and said, "Still got the wand I gave you?" Lily nodded but did not speak. She was still focussed on what McGonagall had said about being influenced by James. It was not true and she knew it, but it bothered her to no end that her Housemistress believed it so.

The silence echoed between them but was soon filled by the rustle of trees and the whistle of the wind. It was a chilly evening and Lily was glad she had been wearing her cloak. Her companion was not so clothed but it did not seem to bother him as he sauntered with confidence across the Hogwarts grounds toward the pitch.

* * *

"Right, now I'm going to have you two washing and cleaning the spares, "Madam Hooch began upon the arrival of her two victims. She took them through into the Gryffindor changing rooms as she spoke. On the floor lay two ominous baskets full of stinky kit. "That means all the pads, guards, shirts, trousers, gloves and robes that are provided by the school for general use as spare equipment. It is not pleasant as they have not been washed in quite some time and sadly there were few detentions at the end of last year, so they have been festering over the summer. Over there," she pointed to two buckets also on the floor, this time full of soapy water, "is detergent filled water. There is spare detergent and a hose in the corner. It must all be done by hand so I require your wands."

Hooch held out a hand to both James and Lily in which they placed their fake wands. The witch did not even look twice at them; she simply turned telling them she would be next door in her office and leaving them alone. A grin spread across James' face, "See what I mean? Didn't even check."

"Y'know, it's probably a good lesson to learn how to clean things the muggle way," Lily said quietly, still thinking about McGonagall and walking over to a pile of Quidditch kit, making a face at the stench, "although we do tend to use a machine as opposed to hand washing everything."

"You have a machine that cleans things?"

"Clothes, yes," she said absentmindedly, before realising James knew very little about muggle life. She looked up at him and the look of wonder on his face made her smile to herself. "It's basically a box with a circular drum where you put the clothes and then there's somewhere to put washing powder, you choose the temperature and press start," Lily explained. "It's very simple really and certainly saves time. We used to have this twin tubs thing where one cleans the clothes and the other spins them but thankfully someone invented a machine that did both in one drum."

"But how does it work?" James asked, clearly intrigued.

"Well, it's connected to the house's electricity and water supply so the water goes in when it starts and the drum spins with the clothes, water and powder which is what washes everything." The wizard hung off her every word, having been raised without any muggle influence, he knew very little of electricity and machinery. He was fascinated.

"Muggles do find fantastic ways to work without magic," he eventually said, nodding his head impressed by the concept. Then James took out his real wand and lazily began flicking it at the dirty kit in his basket and charming it to wash itself in the bucket of soapy water. However, his lacklustre action caused the items to more fling themselves in the water, causing it to splash out as the whole basket of dirty spares threw themselves into the bucket.

Lily gasped in shock as the first splash of soapy water fell on her shoes, jumping backwards slightly, but the first splash was quickly followed by a wave that drenched the witch. A chuckle filled the room as Lily looked down at herself and then back up to the source of the sound, a glare on her face that could burn a city down.

"One more time… I dare you." The look of steel in her eyes would have withered a weaker wizard but James Potter was not the kind to back down on a dare. A single arm guard remained in his basket, and as he flicked his wand once more, soapy water flew from the bucket, clearly with extra magical effort put in to cause such a force from such a small object.

The Head Girl did not even hesitate before diving for her own bucket and flinging it at the Head Boy; her teeth already beginning to chatter as the chill set in. Before long the buckets were empty and water was spewing from the ends of wands and the hose pipe which Hooch had left for their use in cleaning. It seemed more than just the spares were getting a hose down this evening.

So many squeals of surprise and laughter were coming from the changing room that it was a surprise the Flying Mistress had not come to see what the fuss was about. Therefore, the pair went uninterrupted for near an hour of hurling water and ducking for cover until both lay on the benches along the perimeter of the room; shattered, soaking and smiling.

"Truce!" Lily shouted as she flopped onto the uncomfortable wooden bench, too worn out and cold to care.

"Truce," James agreed, doing the same on the opposite side of the room. "Who'd have thought Lily Evans, Head Girl and Prefect Extraordinaire would start a water fight with the arrogant toerag with whom she would rather date the giant squid?" He grinned, looking over at the witch who was twirling the ends of her drenched red hair around her fingers.

"I may like to follow the rules, Potter, but that doesn't mean I'm a complete bore," Lily said, a sly smile on her face as she swished her wand toward the wizard, a splash of water coming from it and hitting the unsuspecting Head Boy. She threw up a shield charm so she did not have to move as James attempted to retaliate, a look of mock outrage and contempt on his face. Lily laughed, "Sorry, I'm sorry, sorry! It was just too good an opportunity to miss. No more, I promise." Slowly, she took down the shield charm, hoping he would not attack.

A shiver ran through the witch's body and her teeth chattered, it may not have been a freezing night but being soaking wet in the chill that lay beyond the thin walls of the changing rooms could certainly cause a cold. James noticed instantly.

"We should probably get warm," he said, casting a warming charm on the room.

"And clear up this mess before Hooch comes back," Lily added looking at the mess around them. The floor was soaking as puddles littered the tiles and water splatters covered the scarlet painted walls. Buckets were overturned having been used as solid shields and the dirty kit was everywhere, though definitely still stinky.

Lily was quietly surprised at the ease in which James cleared up the mess as she set about charming the kit to scrub itself properly with the spare detergent Hooch had left them. To be fair, it should not have amazed the witch seen as he had had quite the number of messes to clear up in his time. No wonder McGonagall called him a seasoned professional.

"I genuinely can't believe quite how revolting these are," Lily said as a particularly vile smelling scarlet robe passed her. "How can you possibly make them this horrendous? They're only the spares; who wears them anyway?!"

James rolled his eyes, "You wouldn't understand. We work seriously hard out on that pitch."

"I wouldn't understand?" Lily challenged.

"Well," he began, uncertainty in his voice now, "you don't really like Quidditch." The witch raised her eyebrows but said nothing. "I mean, you come to the matches but you don't exactly get excited over it or follow it particularly, right? I mean it's not like–"

"I know that Gryffindor won two out of three matches last year, losing to Slytherin by forty points due to them catching the snitch although you, Kellah and Emmy had managed to rack up a hundred and ten point lead over them and the best Seeker we've had while we've been in the school, Georgie Smyth was millimetres from that damn ball when she was knocked off her broom," Lily stated, eyebrows still raised. "Or that we would've won the cup if you had managed to score just twice more in that game, instead of leaving us ten points behind Ravenclaw who took the cup."

The Quidditch Captain was gobsmacked. Not many people would know figures like that from a prior season with such confidence without looking it up and checking. The only other people he knew who would know was the team, and not even all of them would have fully concentrated. It was impressive to say the least.

"I love Quidditch, Potter, and I would do anything to see Gryffindor win the cup in our final year so don't let me down."

James was stunned to silence and not long after, Hooch returned with their wands and told them to be on their way. The hour and a half had flown by and it was almost curfew as the pair headed back up to the castle. Neither spoke, James' mind elsewhere and completely engrossed in how on earth he had watched the girl beside him for years and never realised how much she enjoyed the one thing he loved in the world almost as much as his friends and family.

* * *

**A/N: Longest chapter so far! Whoop! Im so happy but this chapter caused me so much grief. It did not want to be written. It's done now though so phew.**

**For those interested, a querencia is the location in a bullfighting ring where the bull makes it's stand. I named the chapter it because at times I find Lily and James' relationship almost like a bullfight, both trying to tame, understand and/or kill the other. In this chapter, Lily makes her stand against James in an assumption he made but never really considered the opposite side.**

**I hope you enjoyed it!**

**xoxo Andromache**


	10. Chapter 9: Break-Ups and Make-Ups

**A/N: Merry Christmas, everybody! I hope you all have a wonderful day(s) celebrating with family and friends. I hope you enjoy this update!**

_**Disclaimer: **As I have said time and time again, I am not J.K. Rowling and the majority of this fic is using her characters, world, themes, ideas, plot, etc. Anything you don't recognise is still probably hers in some obscure way but if it's not on the HP Wiki or Lexicon or in the books or films, **then** it's mine._

* * *

**Chapter Nine  
****Break-Ups and Make-Ups**

* * *

As Lily stepped into her dormitory, having parted with Potter in the common room, a flash of light practically blinded the Head Girl. Once her sight was returned to her, Lily could see Mary and Marlene sat on her bed grinning from ear to ear. The witch glared.

"What?" Mary piped up, "You didn't think I wasn't going to get a snap of our Lil returning from her first _ever_ detention? I need something good for the scrapbook." The girl giggled and a smile crept through Lily's stony glare. The evening had been a surprisingly good one; she had had fun, sort of bonded with the Head Boy _and_ proved James Potter wrong about something. All in all, a general success.

"Uh, Lil," it was Marlene this time who spoke, "is there a reason why you look like you just tumbled out of a bed?"

"What?" the witch questioned, blushing at the mere suggestion of what that would have entailed considering the girls were well aware of who she had just spent the last two hours with. Lily headed over to the mirror and took in the sight before her. Her hair, which she had attempted to dry so she did not catch a cold, was frizzy and a complete mess; her uniform was terribly rumpled, although also dry, and her shoes were muddy from the walk back to the castle.

Mary and Marlene burst into laughter as Lily blushed an even darker shade of pink; she did look like she had just rolled out of bed.

"No, no, no, _shh_. Stop! Guys, come on…" Much to the Head Girl's dismay, her friends did not stop at her protestation so she turned to a different tactic, "I won't tell you what happened if you don't shut up." Instant silence. _Result_, Lily thought, taking a seat on her bed behind the girls, who turned to face her as she began to explain the detention.

* * *

"You mean to tell me that _Lily Evans_ started a _water fight_? With _**you**_?" The disbelief that rang through Sirius' voice was impossible to miss.

"Tell me about it, Pads."

"I've been telling you for years that Lily knows how to have fun," Remus chimed in, "she just never wanted to have fun with you. In fact, she more or less hated your –"

"Yes, thank you for the reminder of the bridges I have to mend, Moony."

Peter frowned, "But I thought you were going to get over her. That's what you said last year… Plenty of plimpies in the pond 'n' all that?"

James smirked, "That was before I became Head Boy and realised I was going to be spending a hell of a lot of time with the witch." It was a rare occasion when the Marauders would lie to each other, in fact, it was firmly against their unwritten rules, but James figured this was a tiny lie, a lie by omission even. He would never have gotten over Lily Evans, hell, the blokes probably even knew that, but he had decided to fight for her before he even got the badge. But that was beside the point.

"Well, mate, sounds like you're well on the road to recovery," a smirk covered Sirius' face to match that of his best friend, "she seems to be loosening up with you."

"In all honesty, I don't know how you did it," Remus sighed, almost in awe. "I've known the girl for years and, while she never spoke to me about her distaste for you out of respect, it was bloody clear. Merlin, it's the _third_ day of school! You can have a _civilised conversation_! It's like a bloody miracle!"

"Yeah, but remember the summer," Peter added.

"Wormy has a point, they did have that _rendezvous_ in the 'Cauldron." Sirius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

James rolled his eyes and laughed, "That was nothing. I told you, I just didn't want her to hurt herself or end up in the wrong place with the wrong people." Then he turned serious, looking pointedly at his friends, recalling another incident of the summer, "Especially if there are Death Eaters hanging out in bars and pubs."

His point was made and the subject of the summer was dropped. Silence filled the room until Wormtail spoke up, "So what are we going to do to help?"

"Nothing."

"What?" Padfoot cried. "You expect us to sit around a just watch? What happened to plotting and planning and scheming?"

"That doesn't sound all that helpful, Pads," Remus added.

"Are you trying to tell me you can't plot, plan and scheme for non-mischief?"

"Yes."

"But –"

"Why not?" Peter joined in.

"Because you just can't, okay?"

"No."

"Not okay, I think –"

"_Shut up_!" James called over his three friends' argument. "I do _not_ want your help, clear? No scheming, no plotting and no planning. For neither mischief nor non-mischief involving Lily Evans. _**NO HELP**_. Comprende?"

The Marauders looked solemn and shrugged their shoulders. "Fine," Sirius said grudgingly. "But we still need to plan the start of term prank." The four boys began to smirk their trademark smirks. The scheming began.

* * *

The first week passed relatively simply as most weeks would. The students woke up, had breakfast, went to class, had lunch, went to class, had dinner, went to detention, did their homework, slept and started it all over again. Prefects patrolled, teachers taught and house elves cooked and cleaned. It was an almost normal week. In fact, the most _un_normal thing about the week was, to most students, that Lily Evans and James Potter seemed almost _friendly_ to one another.

They did _not_ argue in the corridors. They did _not_ appear to bubble with hatred at the mere sight of one another. They did _not_ talk about one another nastily to their friends. Actually, they _may_ have _smiled_ at each other when passing in corridors. They _may_ have been seen having civilised conversation in the Gryffindor common room. More to the point, Lily Evans _may even_ have been overheard _laughing_ at something James Potter said.

And so that rusty old gossip mill that had been temporarily closed over the summer holidays began churning once again.

It was unsurprising that a Marauder was talk of the school, but the cold stares Lily was beginning to receive from some of the girls in the older years, specifically Emmony Kurver, a sixth year Ravenclaw, and her gaggle of girlfriends, was beginning to unsettle the Head Girl. She was not usually the talk of the school. The last time she recalled being so was the last time she had most famously rejected Potter's advances and being subjected to emotional abuse by her then best friend.

However, being the person she was, Lily did not rise to the bait. Instead, she continued as usual; going to classes, eating meals, doing homework, going to detention, doing patrols. That was, until the next Wednesday morning rolled around.

It was inevitable that the pleasantries would not last forever, but one hopes it would last longer than a week and a half. Evidently, it did not. That morning, Lily had been sat at the Gryffindor table reading the Prophet and eating her breakfast as per usual. Nothing seemed out of place; that was, until the Great Hall was bustling with students and strange things began to occur.

It all started at the Slytherin table when a second year turned a vibrant shade of green. Not long after that, a few of his housemates did the same, but more notable was the Ravenclaw sixth year whose skin went so blue she could have been mistaken for a blueberry. It is not difficult to guess what happened next and before long almost every pupil in the Great Hall was a brilliant shade of their house colour, apart from the Gryffindors of course. It may have been mildly amusing, especially when the Hufflepuffs started sniffing and squeaking every time they tried to talk, the Ravenclaws began screeching and the Slytherins hissed.

Amidst the raucousness, a familiar bird flew into the hall and dropped a letter beside Lily. The witch swiftly opened the envelope and proceeded to skim read, still watching the madness unfurl around her. She wavered between mild amusement and slight annoyance at the presumed culprits of the mayhem, but the annoyance escalated to anger when the Gryffindors, including Lily herself turned a wonderful shade of scarlet. But what caused the Head Girl's unrestrained wrath was when the four wizards, untouched by whatever spell, hex or potion, stepped onto the table to bow and she started towards them in ire.

James froze, shocked at her appearance, while his companions chuckled. Ready to give them a piece of her mind, Lily opened her mouth but all that came out was a room-shaking roar. Laughter erupted from Sirius' mouth first, but Remus and Peter followed pretty swiftly, unable to contain themselves. If she could turn any more red that she already was, Lily would have at that point. Instead, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the room just as McGonagall stood and attempted to calm the pandemonium. Potter made a move to go after her, but Remus grabbed his arm to stop him.

From that moment, Lily and James were not on good terms.

* * *

Wednesday passed swiftly with the school still buzzing over the Marauders' start of year prank, Lily still avoiding James and James still searching for Lily. In most lessons, the Head Girl would sit between Marley and Mary, as usual, promptly evading eye contact with anyone but the professor, especially males who habitually frequented the back of the classroom.

Thursday passed much the same as Wednesday, minus the raucous breakfast. There was definitely something missing though. Something skinny, tall and Mary shaped.

It shamed Lily to realise that it was not until she and Marley were taking their seats in Defence Against the Dark Arts that she noticed she had not seen Mary all day. In fact, apart from in class, she had barely seen Mary since they got back to school. The girls had had a few chats and eaten a few meals together, but generally the third witch had been absent. Lily's head had been all over the place what with her Head Girl duties, classes, the damned Marauders and _other_ things, that she had not even noticed one of her best friends' disappearance.

"Where's Mary?" Lily asked Marlene. Her friend shrugged and made a non-committal grunt, too busy flirting with Angus Mattingley from across the room. Instead of sighing and turning away which she may have done on another such day, the witch elbowed her best friend hard in the ribs, drawing the girl's attention away from the relatively attractive Ravenclaw and back to Lily with a loud complaint being issued from her mouth.

"He would have been a contender for my Hogsmeade date if you hadn't gone and fudged that up!" Marlene protested but there was a hint of serious concern on her face when she turned to her friend and housemate, "What's wrong with you anyway? You have your knickers all in a twist for the last two days about something and don't tell me it's just about the Marauders and their silly prank because even you don't get that het up about things like that."

As much as Lily loved the girl sat beside her, she sometimes wished Marlene did not know her so well. She had done all she could to forget the real reason why she was so tense and annoyed and why she had overreacted about the prank. Lily's thinking was, if she put all over her anger and focussed it on Potter and the Marauders she would not have to think about the letter which had arrived shortly before she had erupted in the Great Hall, which was now burning a hole in the pocket of her robes.

The red headed witch frowned, pulling the letter from her pocket and dropping it on the desk. Professor Silthe, the new Defence professor was mumbling on about something insignificant and did not notice the girls' lack of concentration. He was a kind man, not very old and apparently left Hogwarts shortly before they had joined, but he had no idea how to hold the class's attention. Not like Binns in the way he droned on, but more that his theory lessons were so full of waffle that it was hard to distinguish what was the useful information.

Marlene read the note quickly and shoved it back on her friend's lap. "We're discussing this later," was all she said in a stern tone that assured Lily there was no getting away from it before tuning in to Silthe and attempting to concentrate.

* * *

Even after a serious discussion throughout their final and free period of the day, which had left neither Lily nor Marlene in the most stable of moods, the Head Girl had still not gotten to the bottom of Mary's location. Marley was being oddly evasive and kept managing to find ways of subtly changing the subject so she dropped it. For now.

However, after leaving her friend and heading to the first floor for her extra-curricular Ancient Studies lesson, the dread began to set in. In fact, Lily barely listened the whole period and if she actually took anything away from that lesson, it would be that there was no way to get out of patrols with Potter that evening.

Lily had gone through every possible excuse and, though she had successfully avoided the wizard up until this point, he would see straight through any alibi she gave for not attending rounds. Besides, she was Head Girl; she was not going to shirk her duties. It was, therefore, with great reluctance that when ten o'clock rolled around, Lily was awaiting James' arrival in the Gryffindor Common Room to begin their rounds.

"Evans, hey," James began upon his arrival, "I, umm, didn't know if you'd come or not."

"Not everyone is like you, Potter," the witch replied flatly, heading straight for the portrait hole, "I would never neglect to do my job due to your presence. I was sure I had made that clear on the train." A derisive laugh escaped Lily's lips, "Then again, you never can be certain with you as most things go in one ear and out the other."

With that, she stepped through the portrait hole and headed down the seventh floor corridor leaving James in her wake to try and catch up.

"Evans, come on, listen." He was not going to give up; there was no way in Salazar Slytherin's green flamed hell he was giving up. After over six years of knowing and obsessing over the girl James had barely scratched the surface of who she was and within one week of being on averagely good terms with her, he had come to learn far more than he could imagine. He was not planning on giving up all that without a fight. "It wasn't supposed to happen that way."

Lily continued to ignore him, walking as fast as she possibly could, trying to keep an eye out for anything untoward but the wizard tailing her was highly distracting. Even more so when he was able to catch up with her in a mere four strides. Damn her short legs.

James grabbed her shoulders so she would not try and dodge him. "You weren't supposed to be there," he said sincerely, but that only riled the witch more.

"And you think that makes it _okay_?!" Lily tore herself away and continued down the corridor, now fuming.

Sighing, James ran and hand through his hair. Nothing he could say right now would make it better, which only annoyed him so he did what he always did, he spoke without thinking, "For Merlin's _sake_, Evans, no one got hurt!" His voice began to rise as his annoyance built. "It wasn't a prank that harmed anyone; it didn't isolate a single person or house or intend to humiliate _anyone_! The whole _school_ was brightly coloured all of breakfast for _fuck's sake_ but do you see anyone _else_ complaining apart from you? _No_! Because no one _fucking_ cares! No one apart from you and your _prissy fucking goodie two shoes arse_!"

Stopping in her tracks, Lily slowly turned around. Her voice was low and so chilling that it could freeze a warm summer breeze, "How _dare_ you?" She licked her lips and closed her eyes, trying but failing to calm herself down, "How _bloody fucking dare_ you?"

"How dare I _what_? How dare I speak my mind? Are you the only person allowed to do that or something?"

"No, _Potter_," Lily spat, now absolutely livid, "how dare you _presume_ that _everything_ in _everyone's_ life is about _you_!" Leaving the wizard alone once more, she span around and stormed down the corridor and turned the corner, breaking into a run as soon as she was out of his sight. As she ran, tears began to stream silently down her face and, searching for somewhere to stay out of James' sight, stumbled through the nearest door and into what seemed to be a disused bathroom, sliding down the wall and to the floor.

As much as she tried to calm herself, the tears refused to stop falling down Lily's cheeks. Potter, his actions, the prank, nothing mattered, it all just led back to the letter. The letter which made her inside churn and want to eject the contents of her stomach, the letter which may as well have been another twist in the knife that had been puncturing her heart since the day she received her Hogwarts Acceptance Letter.

After a few moments she felt a presence beside her. Nothing was said, no sound was made, just a presence that wrapped its arms around Lily as her tears continued to fall, this time onto its chest as opposed to her cheeks. Minutes passed until she pulled away, fully acknowledging the being that she had been crying upon. James Potter.

"I-I'm s-," Lily started, trying to push away, but her voice was silenced immediately by the crushing force of being pulled back into James' chest.

"Don't apologise," he said softly, but sternly as his strong arms held her while she finished her tears. They sat like that for a while until the witch was done and it was only then that he let her go. "My mother always told me not to bottle up my feelings so I suppose she'd tell you to just cry it all out." He rubbed her back, unsure of what to say next but in desperate need of lightening the mood.

"She really likes you, y'know? My mum, that is. I believe you made quite the impression over the summer." The wizard began to smile, recalling fractions of the time in which Lily lived at his house, "I think she sees a lot of herself in you." Now his smile spread into a full grin, "I mean, she didn't like me either when she first met me."

An unladylike cross between a laugh and a sob which ending up coming out like a snort fell from Lily's mouth. Mrs Potter was a wonderful woman and had been nothing but brilliant for her; she also did not have an unkind bone in her body and loved James with all her heart, making the statement obviously untrue, though it amused Lily all the same.

"Thank you," the witch said quietly, wiping the tear tracks from her face and staring straight ahead across the disused bathroom.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, James probed lightly, "Want to tell me what's going on?"

"Nothing," Lily replied, "Can we just forget this ever happened?"

"I don't think so, Evans. I know even _you_ wouldn't get _that_ upset over some stupid prank."

She nodded slowly but refused to look at him while her hand fingered the edges of the letter that was still residing in the pocket of her robe. As much as she hated talking about it to anyone, she had to admit Potter had been nothing but supportive the last time Petunia had been brought up. Lily still despised the fact that he was even aware of their relationship, if it could even be called that anymore, and the fact that he had seen her at her weakest.

Petunia.

As ever, it all came down to Petunia. Her loved ones would always be her weakness and her strength. Her fierce loyalty and bravery in the face of anyone who tried to harm them was something that had made her the perfect student for Gryffindor. However, the fierce loyalty made her weak when it was thrown back in her face. Petunia. The big sister she had always idolised had thrown eleven years of friendship and sisterhood back at her the moment she got the Hogwarts letter, if not before that. The letter that now inhabited her pocket was just the signed confirmation note, the stamped validation, the sealed and delivered endorsement.

Slowly and with a shaky hand, Lily gave the letter to James.

_Tuesday 13__th__ September_

_Dearest Lily,_

_I know it's only been a week and a bit since you've been back at school but I had some urgent news that I thought I should make you aware of. Really I'm writing on behalf of Petunia – she's simply too busy to write to everyone with all the plans she needs to make, so I thought it'd be best if I broke the news to you instead. _

_Petunia's engaged! Oh, Lily, my dear, you really should have been there! Vernon came around for tea and it was simply wonderful. He got down on one knee right there in our living room. The ring is stunning and suits your sister right down to the ground. The wedding is planned for December and will be a fabulous one. I've included an unofficial invite from Petunia; she just had time to write you a quick note._

_I know the two of you aren't on best terms but I really hope the wedding can bring the both of you back together. If not how you were before, then maybe at least just a little? Here's to wishful thinking, hey?_

_Anyway, I hope your term is going well so far and you're working hard. Drop me a line when you have a free moment or when you need a care package from home._

_Lots of love,_

_Mum xxx_

James folded the letter up again and handed it back, not entirely sure what had made the girl quite so upset. So that horrendous sister of hers was getting married… was that not a blessing? His slightly confused look was clearly obvious to Lily as she then pulled out another piece of paper. Written in an untidy and rushed scrawl were the words that had upset the witch the most.

_Vernon and I are getting married. As my sister, you are required to be at the wedding; however, you are _not_ going to be a bridesmaid. I haven't told Mum and I'd rather you didn't, you know how she gets. You're not invited to the Hen party either. I'm also keeping your _abnormality_ from Vernon a little bit longer. I will tell him but not now. _

_Don't make a fuss about this. You may be my sister by blood but that's all you are._

"Ah." James finished reading and put the note to one side. He looked at the witch beside him, still focussed on the wall opposite her and unmoving. "Your sister wasn't worth your upset back in the summer and she sure as hell isn't worth your tears now," he said firmly refusing to look away from Lily.

Slowly she looked down into her lap. "Thanks," she repeated quietly.

"Now, if I didn't know Miss Lily Evans, Head Girl Extraordinaire any better, I'd say she was skiving off of her duties," James said loudly with a grin, "I think we'd better remedy that." He jumped up and held out a hand to the girl who was now looking up at him, half in awe and half disbelievingly. "Come on, girl, I haven't got all day!"

A smile gently broke across her face as she took James' hand and headed off to patrol the castle in search of wrongdoers, couples in broom closets and exceedingly lost first years in need of pointing the right direction.

* * *

The pair wandered the castle for the remaining hour of their patrols mainly in silence; one trying to forget the last two days happened and the other analysing them and what they meant. James wondered whether it was a good sign that Lily was opening up to him, it meant she trusted him with some of her closest of secrets, but he was also the person she had directed all of her anger at. Was he getting somewhere with her or did it just mean he was that bloke she could take everything out on?

When the silences became too awkward for either to bear, they filled it with small talk; lessons, essays, friends, anything that could draw their minds away from the incidents of the last few days. Anything to get back to the acquaintance-to-almost-friends relationship they had. It had suddenly all become too personal for Lily and James had begun to overthink things. However, when the small talk fell onto Quidditch, both seemed to perk up.

"How did trials go last weekend?" Lily brought up the topic; hopeful that it would get them both out of the awkward rut they had somehow fallen into.

James nodded thoughtfully, "Promising, I must admit."

"I hear you made everyone try out, including last years team and Black."

"Yeah, they were none too happy about that but I think, or at least, I hope they accept that we won't get anywhere by staying with last year's team," the wizard shrugged. It was the right thing to do, of course, and no one doubted Potter's captaincy, but having been friends and teammates with him for years, few were delighted. Marlene had raved to Lily for hours about it. "I think that's where I went wrong last year. I should have made everyone re-try."

"Any great finds?" She questioned, interested but also not wanting the silence to consume the Heads again. "I doubt anyone could possibly be a better discovery than Den was last year."

"He's actually one of the few that has improved over the summer," James said, perking up at the mention of their keeper, Denison Frisby, a third year who the Head Boy had scouted in his first year of being Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain. "Admittedly he still has the worst attitude I have ever seen on a player but –"

"Worse than yours was when you joined the team?"

James looked at her pointedly, "Touché, Miss Evans, touché." He paused, a smile forming slightly on his face as he recalled his early years on the team, "I think I could make a captain out of him yet. No quaffle is getting through those hoops this year."

Lily broke into a smile to join his as they continued to walk, having made their way down to the fourth floor. "Did you find someone to replace Trev as seeker?"

Licking his lips and narrowing his eyes, James thought for a moment. He had not yet fully decided on the final line-up but had provisionally posted the squad of twelve players that would be whittled down to either nine or ten. "There are possibilities but I haven't made a final decision yet. Between me and you, that fifth year witch, Peakes, is looking promising."

The depth in which James thought about the team made Lily smile. Even though he had asked them all to re-try, she knew from what Marlene had always told her that the team was more or less like a family and that could only mean good things for Gryffindor's chances that year. "I told you before and I'll tell you again: you had better bring us back that cup, Potter."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, Evans."

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Whether you've found a spare moment in your Christmas Day, or you waited for another week to read this (in which case, Happy New Year), I wish you the happiest holidays! **

**xoxo Andromache**


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